Within Pandemonium
by SlamShady
Summary: In a dystopian world, a city is divided and on the verge of war. For generations, Grid has ruled the city, however an upcoming rebellion is brewing and within the chaos an unbreakable bond is formed between two people. Xanxus/Squalo, XS, AU COMPLETE
1. Saved by Pride

**[A/N] -  
><strong>this is the new XS fic I'll be working on from now on. It's AU, set in a sci-fi dystopian world I created. I hope you enjoy this :D. Reviews are greatly appreciated especially since I need an idea on what my readers think about this.

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><p><strong>Terminology<strong>

This verse is created 100% by me, hence you definitely would not have heard about it anywhere else. I know some of it might be unclear but I tried to make it less confusing and easy to understand. The setting is more sci-fi than the canon verse, technology is better developed.

Refer here if anything is uncertain. Most terms are explained in the story.

**Tephire**** – **the city this story is set in.

**Axel**** – **the official ruler of a city, the Axel of Tephire is Pohlepa.

**Grid****&****Vongola** – two major organizations that are on the verge of war. Grid has support from nobles whilst Vongola's objectives are unknown.

**Grid**** hunters****/****Grid**** hunting**** squad** – The elite fighting squad of Grid, contains over a thousand selected soldiers. They are ranked S-class, A-class and B-class, going in that order of strength respectively (S-class being strongest). Their main job is to hunt down targets who have escaped or rebels violating the Grid law, they also take requests from noble clients.

**Zenos** – The main currency of Tephire and mostly used by nobles, each Zenos is worth 100 Zeen (also a form of currency but more frequently used by peasants)

**Auction**** house** – the event held every month where nobles gather in the hopes of purchasing slaves, exotic merchandise/animals etc. Organized by the Grid hunters.

**Croala** – the equivalent of the radio and provides the most up-to-date news. This authority is only given to those who live in the high district.

**Axel's private army** - contains around five thousand men with considerably less skill than those from the grid hunters.

I'll probably list more as the story goes on.

**NOTES:**  
>- Since this is an AU, how each character's weapon works is slightly different to the canon manga, so don't think I made a mistake and misinterpreted the actual manga. (This mainly applies to Xanxus' X-guns &amp; maybe some others).<p>

- Squalo has both hands intact, hence he does not have a sword attached to one hand but instead, carries his weapon around.

- Squalo is 22, Xanxus 24, all other characters their relative ages. Fran is a boy (the age he is in the current arc -the curse of the rainbow-).

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><p><strong>Introduction (Can be skipped if you want)<strong>

The great city Tephire lead by Axel Pohlepa is divided between the higher district and the lower district. Likewise, the population is split between nobles and peasants. Those born nobles were deemed superior by default to those who came from peasant families however ascension from the lower class to the upper was not unheard of. Predictably, the higher district accommodated the most updated and contemporary buildings and most people who lived there were unsurprisingly nobles. However a small fraction did contain peasants who worked their way up the hierarchy and established themselves a home in the grand district, unfortunately for them they were socially outcasted for being inferior by blood. But to them, being an outcast was small price to pay for being able to live in the high district; those dwelling in the low district relied on scraps and leftovers for survival.

Apart from the division of population there was also the fight for power between the dominant groups. Grid was the dominating organization, the group who possessed almost total control over the doings in Tephire city. This was due to the fact that the Axel (official ruler) of Tephire, Pohlepa, was also the head of that company. Their fighting force and influence on the citizens (especially nobles) have always been unrivaled from the beginning however this changed once the Vongola organization came into picture. No one knew where they came from but it was acknowledged by all that they had power _nearly_ equal to Grid. It was only a matter of time before those two monsters clashed and when they did, a revolution would be the result.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 – Saved by pride<strong>

Squalo cut down his victim without a trace of remorse, blood spattered across his face like water on a rainy day. He didn't mind, fighting was what he lived for and what he cherished. That's why he chose this job anyways, or more precisely, that's why he was _chosen_ for this job. The girl stirred, wound bleeding profusely as Squalo dragged her by the neck onto the hovercar and placed her in the attached wooden box, chained to the bottom of the craft.

Squalo sighed, as much as he liked combat, one of the downsides to his job was the fact that he didn't get to choose his victims. Today he was requested to hunt down and bring back a _child_, a waste of time he thought because overcoming children didn't improve his combat skills the slightest. Nevertheless he was still getting paid a fair sum of _Zenos_ for his actions and didn't complain, there were millions in Tephire city who would kill to be in his position. Starting up the engine he looked around him, there was blood everywhere. He had to commit many unnecessary murders today and his victims' blood was mixed with the dirt on the ground, creating what looked like dark red mud.

The little girl would be hovering over death with the deep long cut Squalo gave her on the abdomen but that was of little worry to him. Those wounds could easily be healed with the right technology and she'll be as good as new, even newer than when her purchaser bought her. No, what did worry him was the rumored war that every citizen of Tephire is currently anticipating. The war between the two great powers that controlled ninety-nine percent of everything that went on in this city; the war between the Vongola and the Grid.

It was common knowledge that Grid formally ruled the city as the _Axel_ of Tephire belonged to that organization. Since the Axel of any city is the official ruler or king of that city, it was assumed that Grid automatically held the title for the most powerful company in Tephire. However the reason they were powerful is because they held control over the nobles who were more than happy to provide solutions to any financial problems. They gladly funded any plans that Grid had and were even the so-called 'inventors' of the famed auction house.

Squalo himself worked for Grid, not that he had a choice really. His superior skill with the sword was bound to attract much attention from the higher ups and unfortunately for him, Grid decided to hire him first. He definitely wasn't unhappy about it. No, they paid him more Zenos than he had ever dreamed of and because of this he was allowed to live comfortably in the higher district when he had previously survived on scraps from the lower district. But he also didn't deny that some actions taken by Grid indeed disturbed him, _especially_ those going on at the auction house. Organizing the sales of humans or endangered animals or organs wasn't in his interest at all.

He turned on the _croala_ or the radio as they used to call it, it was already 2pm and his shift ended at five. If he quickly returned now, he might be presented with another task. He navigated his hovercar skillfully between gaps, buildings and other flying mobiles, the wooden box swinging dangerously below but tightly attached to the car. The news being broadcasted on the croala caught his attention.

'…_and we report to you the results of the raid on one of our major towers this morning made by the Vongola organization. From the information given to us, Grid has lost approximately 100 A-class fighters, if not more, in this horrendous conflict. However thanks to the quick actions of Grid's hunting squad, we have also captured one of Vongola's leading members and he is currently being held in the main building…_'

The reporter proceeded to list the names of the soldiers who died and Squalo turned the broadcasting machine off, not caring the least who they were. What really shocked him was the fact that the Vongola squad managed to take down over 100 A-class men. Squalo himself was an S-class, which were equivalent to 5 A-classes meaning he should be able to take down 5 of the latter with ease. However he was part of the very few who were S-class in Grid, they were the elite of the elite. Losing 100 A-classes was a dramatic blow to Grid's fighting force; even Squalo couldn't take down fifty by himself let alone a hundred. And what's more, they failed to announce how many casualties the Vongola had in that raid, only reporting one leading member captured. And that member was currently held in the main building, Squalo's workplace. All in all, the outcome of the conflict this morning was Grid's defeat in every way possible and it really brought his attention to how strong Vongola really were.

Not that he cared whether Vongola or Grid were going to win this upcoming war, but if Grid lost it could also mean the annihilation of his job. He would have to start saving up enough Zenos to last him a while just in case they _did_ lose. He automatically resolved to do as many jobs as he could before it was too late. Of course he had a large sum in his bank account already but who knows how long this war will last? And maybe they will even be expecting him to fight for Grid, in that case he might not even survive. Squalo wasn't the type to get himself involved in this silly conflict, he'd much rather be an onlooker, learning and observing but not affected by the result.

When he reached the large main building, he paused to admire its grandeur even though he drives past at least once everyday. The building itself was a spiritual pillar which held Grid together, it stood out in the whole of Tephire city; every man woman and child knew what lay in there and what happens if they defy it. To many, the beauty of this monument was only second to the Axel's palace which lay in the centre of the high district.

Squalo parked his hovercar in his private spot and proceeded to take out the child from his mission earlier. She was breathing fast but such symptoms were normal for Squalo's experience and he paid no attention to her condition, instead he reestablished the grip on her neck and dragged her inside the building. Traveling across the entrance hall he was greeted by many words of respect but again he paid no attention, having received them everyday he walked in. Upon reaching his floor, he dumped the girl into one of the beds in the infirmary and motioned for some healers.

'Voi you trashes, patch her up and make sure that wound doesn't scar.' He ordered and they obeyed with a bow. 'After you're done, send her to customer number 218.'

He left without another word whilst the medics hurried to fix the poor girl's wounds. Another job done and another five thousand Zenos to his credit card. He walked quickly to his work floor in the hopes of receiving another mission. As an S-class he was mostly in charge of hunting down escaped purchases from the auction house. Nobles who bought products from the house occasionally failed to keep an eye on their merchandise and as a result, people like Squalo are hired to track them down and bring them back for a good sum. The little girl from this morning was sold to a certain noble as a slave, to have such a fate bestowed to someone like her, death would undoubtedly be preferred.

When he reached the common room, he could hear shouts, laughs and what sounded like people arguing. He walked in to find his fellow colleagues' lounging in their sofas and attention drawn to something that occurred at the centre of the room. From what it looked like, a few people were crowded around someone but what they were doing Squalo didn't care. He took a seat in his usual corner near the window and ordered a maid to bring him some coffee, only then did he notice what was happening in the middle of the room.

Five men were ganging up on another man. Leading them was Taros, another S-class and who they all looked up to as their leader. Head of the Grid's hunting squad, he was possibly the only one who could fight evenly with and perhaps defeat Squalo. However the shark refused to acknowledge this fact and was planning on the day he would challenge the man and conquer him, thus winning the respect of his fellow men and maybe even the Axel. Squalo watched as Taros held the other man by the neck and delivered a hard punch to his abdomen. The victim didn't even struggle but he didn't let out any cry of pain either which the swordsman thought was quite an achievement considering who the attacker was.

Squalo didn't ask who the man was, assuming he was just an unfortunate person picked off the streets to satisfy the boredom of the other hunters. While quietly sipping his coffee he scrutinized the tanned skin of the victim and the multiple scars that marked his muscular body. His hair was raven, spiked with a fringe almost covering his eyes which were closed, feathers and beads attached to the bottom of his hair hanging loosely over his back. Blood was flowing freely from his mouth and fresh purple bruises covered parts of his torso. He was wearing nothing except black leather pants which were ripped in some places. His posture was slouched which could only indicate his exhaustion but from what, Squalo could only guess.

Taros grabbed him by the hair and this time forced him to kneel on all fours while he took out a short metal handle from his coat pocket. Squalo scowled as he eyed the object with distaste, in his opinion there was no need to go to that extent to cure their boredom. Laser whips were only used for torturing and interrogation, to be used on an innocent bystander was going too far.

'My fellow Grid hunters, today you witness how enemies of our organization are punished!' Taros gave a husky laugh and pushed a notch on the handle. A thin blue line appeared at the end and without hesitating, he swung it down hard onto the stranger's exposed back.

As soon as the whip made contact with flesh, blood spurted out from the wound and the flesh healed again, leaving a faint red mark. The victim didn't scream or beg for mercy like the normal victims of the whip but Squalo saw his eyebrows twitch due to the pain. His eyes were still closed and he refused to show any signs of defeat.

'VOI, Taros you fucker, I didn't know you were this low to use the whip on an innocent onlooker.' Squalo felt he had to say something; nothing made him sicker than to see his superior in so much glee. The shark personally hated the man.

All heads turned his way at the outburst, even Taros and the stranger. What grabbed Squalo's attention was the fact that the raven haired man had _finally_ opened his eyes and for a fleeting moment, their gazes met. Silver against two dark pools of red. Squalo shivered in spite of himself as he noticed nothing except those hard ruby orbs that bore into his soul. This wasn't just an exchange of glances, it was an attack; he felt as if the raven was drilling into every corner of his body with those eyes of his and yet Squalo couldn't look away. Those eyes held some sort of power over him and reduced him to the state of…god knows what. However before he could admire them further a voice woke him.

'God Superbi, you're as clueless as ever. Don't you know who this bastard is?' The tone in his voice was laced with mockery.

'What the fuck are you talking about?'

'You hear that men? This pathetic silver haired shit clearly didn't listen to the news today. He doesn't know what my hunting squad fished.'

'Yeah I did, we lost over a hundred fucking A-classes!'

'Haha true and did you know that it was this piece of shit here who did it?' He gave the man another hard whip.

'VOI! What!' Squalo was dumbfounded. Taros must be kidding; there was no way one person could take down a hundred elite soldiers no matter who they were.

'I meant exactly what I said,' another whip, 'the raid this morning was done by this bastard alone,' another whip, 'he single handedly killed a hundred and six of our comrades!'

For once in his life, Squalo was truly speechless. He glanced back down at the man who to Squalo's disappointment closed his eyes again. It was hard for him to believe that the very man defeated a hundred soldiers who were close to his level, the feat itself was always considered impossible in his eyes, until now. Insane, he thought, absolutely insane. There must be some kind of catch or some treacherous play involved, or they must have miscounted. He stared at the man with a kind of new found respect whilst he was being savagely whipped. The fact that he wasn't struggling must mean he was exhausted from his actions.

Taros spoke again with a wild grin on his face as he continued to whip the culprit.

'When my squad found him he still had an ounce of strength left but there was no way he could overcome me! The great Taros!' His hand jerked down and the laser made contact with flesh again. This time the wounds didn't heal.

Taros stopped for a second to give the man a hard kick on the crotch, earning some loud cheers and whoops from his comrades. Squalo suddenly felt sick, he thought that the man didn't deserve to be humiliated in this manner even though he belonged to the enemy. He knew that Taros would eventually torture him until he died and bowed his head in shame. What a waste, that man was a highly accomplished warrior and shouldn't be wasted away in this manner. It took all of Squalo's self control to not interfere with the events in front of him, he hoped with all his heart that the man would survive through this. Squalo wanted a chance to speak to him, the strength that he possessed caught the shark's admiration almost instantly. He wanted to communicate in _some_ form with him, to share their fighting experiences…anything.

It also disgusted him that Taros was abusing someone who should have been esteemed above others. Squalo knew that Taros couldn't hope to achieve half of what the raven haired man did and yet he was taking advantage of the other and overwhelming him in the most cowardly way possible. As Squalo looked around he was dismayed to see expressions of approval on his comrade's faces, they weren't true warriors he concluded, true warriors would respect the incredible actions of the raven haired, not mock him while he was injured.

Beating down the overwhelming regret and shame in his stomach, Squalo looked away and into the horizon. Still he couldn't ignore the cracks of the whip on the other's flesh. He had lost count of how many lashes Taros gave but the raven was still refusing to show any signs of weakness. If Squalo was in his position he would have given away long ago.

Losing all hope of getting another mission to cure his boredom, he could only wait and witness the death of the scarred man. When the clock showed half an hour until the end of their shift, Taros put away his whip and motioned for two of his men. By then blood was dripping and flowing down the raven's back, onto the stark white carpet. Numerous lines covered his back, none of which were healed.

'Take this shit and lock him up,' Taros ordered. He then walked over to the corner in which Squalo resided.

'Superbi, I'll leave that bastard to you. Do whatever you want with him, torture him, kill him or send him to the auctions – your choice got it? He's locked in cell R24, once you're done with him get rid of his body, if I see any trace of that fucker here tomorrow you've got hell to pay. ' He gave Squalo a hard pat on the shoulder. 'Take this as a gift from your superior. Appreciate that I let you have a bite of my prey.'

Squalo hesitated, wondering whether this was a trap. Taros wasn't the type to show Squalo of all people any acts of 'kindness'. But if Squalo really did get to have a say in the fate of the stranger, he'd take the chance no matter what kind of consequence there was. He didn't know why he felt this way but right now all he wanted was assurance of that man's safety. All he knew was that he wanted a glance of those harsh red eyes again, he wanted to be overwhelmed by the power they held over him.

'…got it.'

Taros gave a grin, flashing his bright white teeth and left. The key to cell R24 was left on the table.

Squalo sat there thinking hard. Should he just kill the man and be done with it? What was there to gain by doing so? He'd be safe and everything would return to normal. But if he saved the man, and was caught…that would be the end of him, he'll be the next victim of the whip. The vision of the man's dark red eyes flashed in his mind and he shuddered, taken in by desire. He couldn't lie to himself, he wanted to see him again, to at least talk with him, ask him questions, associate himself with him but the consequences if he was caught were too great. He continued to consider his options and the room slowly emptied as time passed. Finally he made his decision.

Squalo waited until it was five and all the men had left before getting up from his seat. Picking up the keys he made his way not to cell R24 but to the monitor room. If he was going to undertake the plan he had in mind, he had to make sure no one except the cleaners were present in the building. He had only one chance and he wasn't going to blow it.

As an S-class, he had the authority to visit any room he liked as well as order anyone ranked below him. This position proved its use in this situation where he spotted a few B-classes remaining behind on the third floor on one of the monitor screens. He turned on the microphone and spoke.

'You trashes should be heading home by now, unless you have a proper explanation to remain behind.'

He saw them jump from the monitor screen.

'Sorry general Superbi,' they made their hasty apologies to the hidden camera behind them and quickly left without another word. Perfect, now he had the whole building to himself. Glancing down at his watch, he noticed he had half an hour before the cleaners arrived. Switching off all the monitor screens, Squalo hastily ran to the dining room, took two unopened sandwiches and a bottle of water before leaving. This time he really was going to cell R24.

He quickened his pace as he noticed the time ticking, 25 minutes left. He had no idea why he was risking his job and possibly his life to save a stranger but he did know that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he allowed someone like that man to die. Not when he could do something about it. For some reason he wanted solid proof of that strength, the power that took down the number of people he thought impossible. He also wanted to challenge that might and the desire was spreading through his body with every step.

He followed the trail of blood that undoubtedly came from the man's wounds and walked past solid metal doors…R21, 22, 23 and finally R24. The lock on the handle was large and heavy, unbreakable without the proper key. Squalo opened the door lock with a click and pushed forward. There was no light but he could make out the figure slumped near the back wall, panting. Walking in, he noticed there were no windows, only four great slabs of metal caved in to make a room; the prison itself was a torture of its own kind. The open door allowed light to enter the dark and dank cell and Squalo grimaced as he saw the streaks of blood smudged on the floor.

The stranger lifted his head and once again they made eye contact. This time Squalo could detect an ounce of _helplessness_ in that gaze, the only sign of weakness he had ever got from the raven haired man. He also felt a spark of fear as the eyes bore into him, unpredictable and savage. Pushing those emotions aside, he strode forward and cut the ropes that bound the man's arms. When he did, he almost missed the slight look of surprise that graced the man's features. _20__minutes__left_, he thought desperately on how to transport the stranger out without drawing attention to himself and without further injuring the man. He could only carry him, Squalo concluded.

Twisting the cap off quickly, he held the bottle of water to the man's mouth but the opening stubbornly remained shut. Impatient, he nudged the cracked lips and when they still did not open, he scowled.

'Voi, open up you piece of shit. I'm not going to hurt you.'

The man glared at him but to Squalo's content, opened his mouth obediently and drank. After he was finished, Squalo unwrapped one of the sandwiches and ripped off a piece but this time, the man rejected the morsels with passion and annoyingly remained silent. Squalo contemplated forcing the pieces of bread into his mouth but gave up realizing he couldn't waste anymore time. Losing much of his patience, he threw the sandwiches aside and decided to force some words out of the raven's mouth.

'Can you fucking talk? What's your name?'

Squalo wasn't expecting an answer and was genuinely taken back when he received a reply.

'Xanxus.' He uttered. Squalo was slightly disturbed at how tired this 'Xanxus' sounded.

'Heh, so you can talk. And all this time I thought you were a mute or something.' Squalo gave a grin which wasn't returned.

'…scum.' Xanxus replied.

Squalo's eyebrow twitched.

'VOOI, who are you calling scum? Do you wanna live or not?' The raven didn't reply but instead, tilted his head in irritation. The wounds on his back were still seeping with blood and Squalo decided he would chastise this 'Xanxus' later, after he was properly healed up. Taking one of Xanxus' arms, he hauled it over his shoulder and stood up with the scarred man leaning heavily on him. After he took a step though, the man paused and stared into Squalo's eyes as if reminding him of the consequences of his actions.

'I'm your enemy,' Xanxus' voice was commanding despite his physical state and Squalo couldn't help but admire the authorative tone in his speech. Squalo shook his head at the hard glance he received, thinking on how to reply without sounding too cheesy.

'No. You're not my enemy. Vongola or Grid, none of this matter to me. You have strength and I respect you, hence I can't just watch you die in this pathetic state. Someone like you doesn't deserve to…to be killed by someone like Taros.' He felt embarrassed as he said it and watched Xanxus look at him strangely, taking in what he just heard.

'Anyways,' he refused to meet Xanxus' eye, 'the cleaners will be here in around 10 minutes and we need to hurry. Can you walk leaning on me?'

The tanned man gave a small nod and they set out. They were traveling faster than Squalo expected. He wrapped his jacket around Xanxus' hips to prevent the blood from dripping onto the ground and made his way down to the entrance hall. To his relief, it was empty; if they were spotted now it would mean the end for both of them.

When they reached Squalo's hovercar, he didn't lock Xanxus into the wooden box like his previous victim but instead, allowed him to lie down on the back seat. The blood didn't bother him, he'd get his servants to clean up later. Right now he was primarily concerned with getting home safely with no one noticing Xanxus. Not that anyone would recognize the scarred man, but the sight of a person covered in blood didn't exactly blend in with the crowd. He drove quickly, weaving in and out of the busy traffic. Five pm inconveniently meant peak hour and the sky was filled with nothing but hovermobiles. Still, he managed to reach his home relatively quickly.

Squalo's house was located on one of the small hilly areas in the high district. He personally saved up and built it in that spot, convenient for training and sword practice. It was quite far from the other houses and he was thankful for that as most who lived there shunned him for not being noble. He preferred a solitary life, no annoying neighbors to bother him and no weak friends to drag him down.

The only people who lived with him were his two servants Lussuria and Fran, both of whom were bought by the swordsman from an auction. They of course were forever grateful for his purchase as Squalo was kinder to them than any noble master they worked for. But Squalo didn't buy them out of sympathy; he was more interested in their combat abilities. There was no way he'd let weaklings work under him so Lussuria's skill in martial arts and Fran's talent at illusions were the reasons he hired them.

He didn't regret his choices either, they were the closest things he had to companions and he trusted them completely. He put up with Lussuria's outgoing personality and Fran's cheekiness and was long used to it. They were good servants, cleaning up his messes and cooking him dinner, even comforting him when he was upset. They were his family.

When Squalo parked his vehicle down, he was greeted by Lussuria who came running out the house.

'Master Squalo~, you're late today,' the flamboyant man jumped out toward the shark in attempt to hug him but was pushed to the ground.

'VOI! Stop fucking around Lussuria –'

'Master Squ, who is _this_?' He gasped, spotting Xanxus in the back seat. Squalo pulled him close quickly, incase someone heard even if the chance of that was unlikely.

'Luss,' his voice dropped low, 'quickly get him inside and heal his wounds. He can have the spare room on the first floor.'

Lussuria's eyes widened, noticing the seriousness of the situation. He opened the door and carried the injured man inside while Squalo followed, making sure to lock the front gate. When he was safely inside and out of earshot of any possible intruders, Fran came into sight.

'Why is Master Squalo late today?' He asked in his monotone.

'I'll explain everything when both of you are here,' he replied, watching Lussuria carry Xanxus toward the room next to the dining room.

'Master should have a wash, he's covered in blood,' remarked the green haired boy.

Squalo looked down at his body and realized that the boy was right. He didn't even notice Xanxus' blood soaked through his clothes due to the constant worry of being discovered. His hands were red and caked with dried blood, as were his neck and parts of his hair.

'Voi I will, for now you go help Lussuria heal that man, _make__ sure_ he lives. Meet me down in the living room when you're both done.' Fran nodded and hurried off after Lussuria whilst Squalo made his way upstairs into his own room. He could finally breathe a sigh of relief for successfully undertaking his plan. Lussuria and Fran would not tell anyone what he brought back and the Grid hunters would think he personally killed Xanxus.

With those thoughts in mind, he happily took a shower thinking of what to do with that man. From what it looked like, Xanxus didn't carry any weapons or any object to communicate and in the state that he was in, it didn't look like he'd be fighting his way out. Squalo could question him all he liked without the fear of being killed.

When he arrived downstairs twenty minutes later, Fran and Lussuria were nowhere to be seen so Squalo made his way into Xanxus' new room. There he saw that they were still cleaning his wounds and wrapping bandages across his torso. Lussuria looked sweaty faced and horrified at the injuries he was dealing with, Fran on the other hand looked apathetic but Squalo could tell he was shaken by the gruesome sight.

'Master Squ, what _happened_ to him? I've never seen injuries this bad!'

'I can't believe he survived, most would have died from loss of blood.' Fran said, looking pale.

Squalo was relieved to see that Xanxus' bleeding stopped but was equally revolted when his eyes caught sight of the numerous new scars that the whip left. The red on white looked as if a child grabbed a crayon and scribbled all over a blank piece of paper, leaving barely any empty space.

'Voi…he had the whip used on him.'

Fran's eyes widened slightly and Lussuria gasped audibly, clapping his hands to his mouth.

'That's crazy, how many lashings did he get?'

'No idea,' Squalo replied, staring at the scarred muscular man lying on the bed. His red eyes were open, hearing every single word that they said but he chose not to get involved with the conversation.

'But Master Squ, why did he get punished like that? Who is he?'

Both looked up, evidently waiting for an answer. Squalo grabbed a nearby chair, seating himself and told his servants everything that happened, from his early mission to rescuing Xanxus. When he finished, Lussuria had his mouth wide open and Fran was staring at Xanxus with awe.

'Aaaah!' Lussuria shrieked, 'he took down 106 A-ranks! What a monster!'

Fran made no comment but Squalo knew he agreed also.

'Even I admit it's crazy,' Fran said, 'but that doesn't explain why Master brought him back.'

'That, I'll answer eventually,' Squalo turned to Xanxus this time, 'Xanxus was it?'

The scarred man grunted in response. Lussuria bent forward to help him sit upright.

'How did you defeat all those soldiers?' Squalo asked. Xanxus looked at him apathetically, clearly waiting for him to elaborate.

'I killed them.'

'VOI! I know you fucking killed them, I'm asking how! What tricks did you use –'

Squalo regretted it the moment he said it. Xanxus' rage at his words was apparent, his ruby eyes literally burned with wrath. Squalo looked down in shame, understanding completely why the other man was so angry. Being thought to have 'cheated' in one's victory was possibly the most insulting thing to the victor; a fighter like Squalo would have killed whoever dared suspect that his achievements were gained through deception.

'Look…I'm sor-'

'I blasted their heads off,' Xanxus interrupted, rage never leaving his eyes. 'If that's what you were asking.'

'So you fought them altogether?'

'They came at me altogether.'

Squalo couldn't believe his ears but he was sure the man in front of him wasn't lying. He already learnt from the short amount of time spent with him that Xanxus wasn't the type to make false claims. Here was the solid confirmation that the man was indeed as strong as Squalo suspected. Until now he had never appreciated how powerful this Vongola organization was, Xanxus was only one of their leading members which meant their boss must be stronger than him even. If Grid and Vongola fought now, the latter would most likely be the victor.

'Wow,' Fran commented, 'you're even stronger than idiotic master. I don't believe it.'

'Voi, shut it brat.' Squalo didn't want to admit it but what Fran said was definitely true. They all sat in silence for a moment before Squalo remembered what he was about to ask.

'Master Squ, are we going to keep him?' Asked Lussuria with an excited gleam in his eye. Xanxus also seemed interested in Squalo's answer.

'Xanxus,' he said. 'You need us, you need to stay here or you won't survive with those injuries.' It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Xanxus did not deny this fact and bowed his head, clearly waiting for more.

'I'll let you stay with us, under one condition.'

Xanxus' expression did not change but his next words betrayed his anger.

'Spit it out _trash_,' Squalo almost winced at the commanding tone. Even now he couldn't help admiring how mere words could have such an impact on his very being.

'You have to fight me,' Squalo said, keeping his voice steady, 'as soon as you're back to normal. Until then, you'll stay here.'

Fran and Lussuria exchanged looks of surprise, even Xanxus' eyebrows shifted slightly at the strange offer.

'Fine,' was his answer. Squalo couldn't help revealing a grin of relief. Truth be told, he would have sat there convincing the raven to accept if he had to but clearly, that wasn't necessary anymore.

'Voi, then it's settled.' The atmosphere in the room brightened considerably.

'Oh a Vongola elite in our house, how exciting,' said Fran in a bored voice. The illusionist walked out, saying something about dinner and Squalo followed, realizing how hungry he was. When asked what he wanted to eat, Xanxus curtly replied 'steak' and said no more.

'Xanny, are you going to stay here or eat with us?' Asked Lussuria in a sickly sweet voice.

Xanxus shot a death glare at the flashy man but it had no effect. He answered by getting up from the bed and making his way out of the room wearing nothing except his ripped and ragged leather pants, Lussuria smiled behind him.

Dinner was a pleasant matter for the four men. As it turns out Xanxus _only_ ate steak and nothing else, something which Squalo found irritating. Nevertheless, he kept his opinion to himself and gulped down his own meal quietly, making frequent glances at their new guest. Now that Xanxus was all cleaned up Squalo could properly examine the muscles and the scars on his body. When he realized he was gazing dreamily at the other's features, he silently cursed himself and looked away. Now wasn't the time to be getting attached to someone like Xanxus.

Lussuria held up his wineglass.

'Cheers to our new member!'

The four of them clanked glasses, Squalo somewhat indignantly.

When the meal was over, it was late at night and Squalo was tired. He hoped desperately that no one would suspect that he had smuggled a criminal into his household. When Fran and Lussuria left to their rooms he was stuck alone with Xanxus in the living room. A slight grin graced the raven's features as he noticed the shark staring at his torso. Squalo blushed angrily and got up, heading to his room on the 2nd floor. Before he could however, he felt Xanxus grab him roughly by the shoulder, holding him back.

'Voi, what do you want?' He snapped.

'Thanks…' the scarred man said.

Squalo stared at him blankly, unable to form coherent words to reply.

'What for?' He asked suspiciously. It wasn't like Xanxus to become suddenly thankful.

'For letting me stay.'

Squalo turned away, trying to hide the rising color in his cheeks. He felt slightly happy that someone as powerful as Xanxus was thanking him, he rarely got any appreciation at the place he worked and the nobles certainly didn't show any gratitude when he returned their purchases. Before he could speak, Xanxus was already walking to his room, not leaving behind a backward glance. Squalo sighed and walked up to his own room, contemplating everything that happened today.

- TBC -

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><p><strong>[AN]** - There, I hope it wasn't too confusing? This is definitely TBC, so don't just think Squalo rescued Xanxus and that's it. Reviews are great.


	2. Warriors with their heads held high

**[A/N]**  
>- Here's a gift for Christmas, a super-fast update! (Well fast IMO). The reason the first two chapters were uploaded this quick is because I planned them already so all I had to do was go into the details and write them up.<p>

Unfortunately the upcoming chapters would take much longer since I have them planned but not in depth like the first two chapters. For those wondering how much I plan ahead, well it's usually around 2-3 chapters (so if I'm currently writing Ch3, then I already have up to Ch5 planned).

Thank you for all your kind reviews, I'm glad you liked the setting because I did spend a lot of time creating it (and it was pretty hard since I didn't want to have any plot holes).

Note - Any confusions with the terminology, refer to the section in part 1

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 - Warriors with their heads held high<br>**

The low district occupied almost fifty percent of Tephire city. If the city itself was drawn as a circle, one side of the diameter would be the high district and the remaining half, low. In reality, the two areas weren't actually physically divided, no walls, lasers, barriers…nothing to stop one party from visiting the other. But if any peasant decided to sneak into the high district, they would stand out immediately due to the contrasting difference in attire and would thus be publicly humiliated by the surrounding nobles. Unlucky ones may even serve as the playthings of bored Grid hunters; there was no law in Tephire protecting the lives of any peasant.

Within the low district, peasants survived on their own by farming, fishing and hard physical labor. Only the strong could maintain a 'decent' lifestyle, those physically inferior usually died from disease or hunger or had to rely on someone else. On odd occasions a noble would make a visit, either to scout for potential slaves or to actually purchase goods from the peasants although the latter was rare. Nobody bothered to search the barren land completely as much of the lower district was used for farming by the nobles, that itself was the higher district's main food supply.

The Vongola's main base was located _under_ one of these very farms, the perfect location for the rebellious group as no one would even consider _digging_ on one of the farms that belonged to a noble. The noble in question would be primarily concerned with the growth of crops and hence would never notice the hidden headquarters underneath. They were perfectly hidden from Grid and were able to easily plan their attacks without being discovered. Lead by the warm hearted Sawada Tsunayoshi, the organization itself contained slightly more than three hundred members, all recruited and trained in secret.

However currently, those members were in a state of unrest due to the loss of one of their leaders. A meeting was being held to discuss their present situation and all the heads of each team were attending. In the middle of the room was a large round metal table and the leaders all sat around it, many important members stood surrounding it, some leaning on the wall behind, others standing directly following their leaders. Sitting on one end of the table was Tsunayoshi, head of the Vongola organization. Known for his dependence on his comrades and his compassionate personality, Tsuna was genuinely accepted as the boss even though he did not hold total control over a few, _certain_ people.

Sitting directly to the right of him was his tutor, Reborn. His childlike appearance was due to the fact that he along with six others were transformed and cursed by the first Axel. During the legendary fight some decades ago, when the first Axel was on the verge of defeat, he sealed the powers of the seven who defeated him and cursed them with long life and a useless infant appearance. Of those seven, three survived and formed the Vongola organization.

On Tsuna's left hand side sat Dino, his childhood friend and leader of Team A. Next to Dino was Enma and going around the circle, Mukuro, Byakuran and Colonello, heads of team B,C,D and E respectively. Between Reborn and Colonello was an empty space, no doubt Xanxus' seat if he were present. Everyone in the room was aware of his absence.

'Any news on boss?' A man named Leviathan asked, breaking the silence.

'No, we haven't heard anything from him…' replied a silver haired man standing behind Tsuna. 'They've reported his capture but nothing else, no word of his condition. We can only assume…' He broke off, not wanting to finish the sentence. The young black-haired swordsman beside him had his eyes hooded but his expression was scrunched up in anguish.

Leviathan cursed and punched the nearby wall.

'Don't lose hope Levi,' assured Dino. 'We all know what Xanxus is like, there's no way he'd die that easily -'

'It's not a matter of how strong he is,' interrupted Mukuro, 'knowing Grid, they'll be torturing him as we speak, especially after what he's done. In fact, his resilience will backfire on him.'

'Mukuro's right,' commented Tsuna, 'they'll be using the whip on him at least, and we definitely can't break him out, launching an attack on the main building is too risky. We don't even know if he's alive or not.' He buried his face in his hands, 'How could I let this happen to one of our comrades?'

'Tsuna, it's not your fault, nobody can stop Xanxus if he wanted to do something,' said Enma, 'all we can do now is continue on and try to exploit the weakness that he created for us. Which tower did he attack?'

'The west one,' replied Byakuran, 'and he killed about a hundred A-ranks from Grid by himself.' The white haired man gave a small chuckle, 'that man never fails to impress me.'

'Ushishi, that's our boss for you,' said the blonde haired youth next to Levi. Gokudera spoke again.

'If we launch an assault on that tower now, we could destroy it completely-'

'No,' replied Byakuran, 'don't underestimate Grid, they'll be expecting the attack and we can't afford to lose more men.'

'Kufufufu, I agree with Byakuran. We've already lost Xanxus, that's a huge blow to Vongola both physically and mentally. Most of the lower ranks are terrified at his capture…not to mention the number of fighters we lost during _that _incident.' Mukuro sighed looking not the least worried about their situation, 'if only Xanxus thought things out properly…'

'Why did he do it anyways?' Asked Enma, 'was it because of Mammon?'

Most eyes in the room turned to Bel and Levi. Bel nodded, the assassination of Mammon by Grid still brought a sick feeling to his stomach every time he thought about it. The four of them including Xanxus were the Varia, a small squad specializing in the secretive actions of the Vongola, mainly thefts and assassinations, sometimes recruitment. Bel, Mammon and Levi were personally selected by Xanxus and were his most loyal companions. They were a four man team and preferred it that way.

'You know how proud boss is, he took it as an insult to his honor. Grid killing one of his elite men was an effective taunt, a foul play and he saw it as a personal declaration of his incompetence as a leader.'

'You should have seen his rage then,' Levi shook his head at the memory, 'he was truly humiliated by the act, he couldn't believe they managed to take down Mammon without him suspecting.'

'Exactly, it's like a slap in the face for someone like him. And having a short temper doesn't help either.'

The room fell silent once again and this time Colonello broke the silence.

'Kora. Did anyone try to stop him?' He asked.

Tsuna looked guilty at this question. 'He wouldn't listen to my orders, he never does.'

'It doesn't matter, we can't blame anyone. Like Enma said, Xanxus probably would have blasted our heads off if we tried to prevent him from going,' said Dino reassuringly. 'What's more important is the fact that without Mammon, we are now left with Rokudo as our only illusionist. Who's going to hide the entrance to our headquarters?'

'That we can take care of easily, but what's more important is that we're enormously outnumbered by Grid! Kora, how many grid hunters are there?'

'Even after what Xanxus did, still around a thousand,' replied Tsuna.

'Each one of our regular men is equivalent to…one A-class,' commented Mukuro, 'and we aren't even including the Axel's private army, they're not as big a threat as the hunting squad but they can still overwhelm us by numbers…'

'How many men in his army?' Asked Enma.

'Kufufufu, from what I last heard, around five thousand.'

'Damn,' Colonello swore,' we've only got about three hundred…'

'Tsuna, what should we do?' Enma turned to his boss who didn't answer but looked deep in thought.

'What does Master Reborn suggest we do?' Asked Byakuran.

All heads turned toward the infant next to Tsuna. Reborn hesitated for a moment before speaking his opinion.

'Losses are losses, we have to quickly repair our weaknesses before Grid has a chance to take advantage of them. I suggest we scout for a new illusionist within the lower district because that seems to be the simpler problem. Someone with those abilities shouldn't be hard to find whereas replacing Xanxus is a much more difficult manner.' He looked at Tsuna who gave a nod of approval.

'Then it's settled. Mukuro can I trust you and your team to scout for a potential illusionist?'

'Kufufufu, I always get the boring job,' the pineapple head sounded uninterested but agreed nonetheless.

'As for the Varia…' he paused, 'Bel can be substitute leader until we find another suitable candidate.'

Before Bel could reply, someone burst into the room panting. A man with bright red hair appeared, slightly sweaty and gasping for breath.

'Boss!'

'What is it Shoichi?'

'Quick, the Croala! They're announcing something…'

Understanding, Tsuna quickly took out the remote from his draw and switched on the white orb at the centre of the table. A hologram of the reporter's head appeared along with the news he was reporting.

'…_we have received confirmation from the higher-ups of the Grid hunting Squad that the culprit who was responsible for yesterday's raid at the Western tower has now been executed. The criminal's name is unknown but he is definitely a leading member of the Vongola organization. This is great news for the people of Tephire, another victory achieved by our competent soldiers who strive to maintain the peace and prosperity of this city…' _

Tsuna bowed his head in sadness as his worse suspicions were confirmed, as did many in the room. The atmosphere around the headquarters transformed from that of hope to melancholy, they were all trying to comprehend the situation.

'So he really is gone, I don't believe it…' said Dino, voice shaking. No one spoke except the hologram.

'…_now ask Taros, a highly accomplished warrior and head of the Grid hunters to deliver his message.' _

The hologram changed and this time, a man with dark brown shoulder length hair took over. He had a malevolent gleam in his eye as he spoke.

'_Rest assured those fuckers won't ever try something like that again, or they'll feel my wrath. The bloke yesterday was nothing we Grid hunters couldn't handle so I would just like to tell everyone in the high district not to worry about those Vongola scum trying to take us over.' _

x.x.x.x

Meanwhile four men were enjoying breakfast on the Sunday morning in the residence of a certain swordsman.

'Master, does the 'criminal' they're talking about happen to be Xanxus?' Asked Fran.

'It must be, Franny. He's the only one they found remember?' Lussuria replied, 'aaw, they talk so badly about you.'

'Voi, what is this shit about you being dead? I haven't even told them,' exclaimed Squalo, watching the croala with disgust.

Xanxus didn't reply but his red eyes shone with contempt at the hologram of Taros. Squalo noticed his knuckles clench tightly around the fork when the Vongola was insulted but apart from that, the raven gave no sign he cared what the croala reported. He continued to gulp down his steak but the murderous gleam remained in his eye.

'Hey! Slow down your eating!' Squalo yelled at the raven, 'you're lucky today's a Sunday otherwise you'll be eating pasta for dinner tonight. And Fran, turn off that shitty croala, I don't want to see that bastard Taros' face.'

The green haired boy complied, switching off the hologram with a click from the button on the table side.

'Trash, don't you have work?' Asked Xanxus quietly.

'VOOOI, didn't you listen to anything I said? Today's fucking Sunday!'

When he noticed that Xanxus continued to look confused, Lussuria decided to explain.

'Xanny, Master Squ works from Monday to Saturday. The grid hunters get a break every Sunday so he doesn't have to go to work today, he gets to spend the whole day with us.' The man pouted happily.

'…interesting,' the black haired man eyed the shark with a curious look causing the other to blush angrily. Squalo got up from his seat with a snarl on his face and left, much to Xanxus' and the other's amusement.

'Where's that scum going?' Asked the raven.

'Grocery shopping,' Fran and Lussuria replied together. Xanxus found the reply quite strange but decided not to voice his opinion, knowing that there must be a hidden reason behind it.

Meanwhile, Squalo stormed into the front yard, fuming at the amount of food the scarred man consumed by himself in just one night. Their whole store of steak, completely and utterly obliterated in a never seen before fashion. If he wanted to satisfy the man's ridiculous meat cravings for the time he was staying, he'd have to order a hover-truckload of the stuff. It didn't help that the man refused to eat absolutely anything apart from meat, and it had to be well-cooked too (luckily Lussuria took care of that).

Getting into the hovercar, he suddenly realized that the blood from yesterday was still soaked through much of the back seat and some of the driver's seat. He was so caught up with getting Xanxus healed and forgot to clean the vehicle properly. Squalo paused before deciding to clean it up later, even though he was well aware of the consequences if someone in the public saw. The car might even take a whole day to clean and if he didn't buy the necessary food today, he would have to wait another week before he got the chance. Of course, he could easily take a visit to the hovercar-wash and get the mess removed in a matter of seconds but doing so may arouse suspicion, especially when the mess looked like a tonne of blood.

Without wasting time further, Squalo took off into the sky with a blast, noticing the nearby shrubbery blow outwards due to the sudden rush of air. Most, if not all nobles would get their slaves to do the shopping and housework, not bothering with the petty process themselves. Squalo did at first let Fran and Lussuria take care of the groceries however that changed when Fran came home bloody and bruised one day. It turns out he was caught and beaten up by a group of A-class hunters for his peasant status and was only able to escape by using his illusions.

Squalo had never realized the amount of discrimination going on until that incident. After confronting the trashes who did it, he was told that such an act was normal and even encouraged by some nobles. Only when he took shopping into his own hands did he see that the statement was true; slaves from other noble households were frequently assaulted on the streets by those of higher blood status and were even mocked by passer-bys. When he asked Fran and Lussuria, Squalo was told that they were frequently targeted but were able to effectively defend themselves from the attackers and they didn't want to worry him by telling him, seeing that he was busy with other matters.

From then on, he never gave them the job of shopping but instead, did it himself every Sunday morning. Although Squalo was of peasant blood too, he didn't suffer the same treatment due to his ranking as an S-class hunter of Grid. He wasn't accepted by the nobles but he definitely wasn't degraded like normal peasant slaves and if he ever was, he'd teach the culprit a lesson.

After parking his hovercar in a 'grid-hunter only' space, he made his way to a large building that was the meat shop. Arriving at the store, he motioned for a worker and placed his order.

'Give me fifty kilos of your best beef,' he said brusquely, 'and I want it delivered to my front door by this afternoon, if not then you'll have me to answer to.'

The slave nodded quickly with a frightened look in his eye.

'Th-that's twenty Zenos, General Squalo.'

Squalo threw him the money, impatiently waiting for his receipt. From the corner of his eye, he saw the slave secretly tuck one of the ten zenos notes into his pocket but didn't voice his observations. Despite the fact that he knew he was overcharged, he pretended not to notice. After hearing about Fran and Lussuria's experiences in the high district and how they were treated, he couldn't help feeling a bit of compassion for the other slaves. Besides, it was only ten zenos and he was paid much more than that everyday from his job. Money for food was never a problem for nobles, the production of provisions was plentiful since so much land in the low district was used for it. Large amounts of any food, no matter what quality would only cost a few zenos.

When the small piece of paper was presented to him, Squalo left without another word and headed for the other stores one by one, placing his orders or buying on the spot depending on how much he needed. When he was done and at his hovercar, someone called his name from behind.

'Superbi…hey! Superbi!'

A blonde haired man whom Squalo automatically recognized as Mateo, another S-class was walking toward him.

'What do you want?' Unlike Taros, Squalo was confident that he could beat Mateo in a fight and thus, did not hold back his rudeness.

'That guy from yesterday, you killed him right?'

'Voi, of course I did you fucktard.'

The man looked slightly crestfallen.

'Damn, you're so selfish! You should have kept him alive or something, saved a bit for me…you know. It's not everyday we get to play with a Vongola elite.'

Squalo scowled. 'I didn't have a choice, Taros wanted him dead so I killed him. Get over it.' The last thing he wanted was people making a big deal of his actions. He wanted the affair with Xanxus to be slowly forgotten so that he didn't have to lie his way out of everything because he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up. Ignoring the frown on Mateo's face, he opened the front door of his car and immediately regretted it. Mateo now had full view of the blood-soaked driver's seat however to Squalo's relief, he seemed not to have noticed and walked away mumbling.

Marveling his luck as well as cursing his carelessness, he drove back quickly, not wanting to waste his precious training time. When he arrived home, Fran and Lussuria were changing Xanxus' bandages. The three of them were all surprised at the extent to which his wounds have already healed, they weren't bleeding anymore and were instead replaced by cracking brown scabs. Noticing that the changing may take a while and he needed his servants now, he quickly halted the process.

'Voi Luss, Fran, I need you two to clean up the blood from yesterday from the hovercar.'

The two stopped their work and looked up questioningly.

'If anyone from Grid notices all that blood, it'll look suspicious so I need it gone as soon as possible, work on the front seat first and then the back if you can.' They left without another word, eager to complete their master's orders. Squalo looked around and dread filled him as he realized what he was left with. Xanxus sat looking at him expectantly and the shark felt his body freeze. _The__ bastard__ was__ actually__ expecting__ him __to__ change__ his __bandages__ instead!_

Snarling, he took a fresh roll of bandage and proceeded to cover the raven's torso, glad of a reason to be staring at the man's body. Only when he was inches away from the cuts did Squalo understand exactly how much damage the whip caused. Parts of Xanxus' flesh were hacked away completely and despite looking like ordinary cuts, the wounds ran deep down into the skin.

'Ugh, why did you do something this stupid in the first place?' The shark wondered what could possibly have happened to drive the scarred man into this situation. From what he heard about the Vongola, they didn't seem like the type to order one of their elite members on a suicide mission so he assumed that Xanxus must have made his own decision.

'No reason' was the reply. Squalo didn't query him further but the other man didn't sound annoyed at the question. In fact, the swordsman thought he even sounded _ashamed_ and decided that the reason was probably personal.

'I don't think I'll understand but whatever Grid did, it must have been pretty bad for you to lose control like that,' Squalo continued to wrap the wounds but felt himself comprehend even a little of what the tanned man was feeling. There were times too when he felt humiliated to the point that he did something life-risking or reckless in order to get revenge. When he calmed down a little and looked back on his actions, he realized how stupid they were and the measures he should have taken instead. It scared him how easily he had lost his self control, and how easily he could have lost his life if it weren't for certain, lucky circumstances that kept him alive.

'Why the West tower?' He asked.

'It was the closest.'

'Voi, so you just went into the nearest building and slaughtered everyone?' The raven grunted affirmative and Squalo felt himself give a small smile which was unnoticed.

'Geez, what the hell could they have done to piss you off this bad?' The shark didn't think Xanxus was the type to easily lose his self control.

Xanxus shifted in his seat and looked at Squalo, eyes containing none of the expected anger. Nonetheless Squalo was still mesmerized by them and found himself trying to read the emotions given off by the endless pit of red, trying to understand the power behind those two scarlet orbs.

'They challenged my honor,' Xanxus' voice was harsh and filled with hatred but each word had a profound effect on the silver haired man. 'They decided to test me, so I responded.'

'But if you sat down and considered the consequences instead of losing your head, you could have avoided all this. You should have thought about better ways to get your revenge, ones that aren't so risky.' Squalo thought he shouldn't be telling others to think through things properly seeing the number of times he had lost his better judgment, but he didn't care. Talking to Xanxus reminded him of himself and the mistakes that he made which fortunately didn't cause him any lasting damage.

The man grunted in response, as if to say 'I knew that already'. When Squalo finished wrapping the bandages he sat down next to Xanxus, admiring how similar he was to the other man. For once he had met someone who felt the same way that he did toward…everything. He wondered if the people of the Vongola organization were all like this, respectable warriors with their head held high.

'Voi…what are Vongola's objectives?'

The black haired man looked at him but remained silent. Squalo wasn't surprised since he wasn't expecting an answer to begin with; he was a general of Grid and by title, the enemy of Vongola. Someone like Xanxus revealing anything concerning Vongola to Squalo was unlikely in every respect. Suddenly remembering his training, Squalo leapt from his seat.

'VOI, I almost forgot!' He swore and punched the wall, how much time did he waste already? 'I'm going to go train, do whatever you want in the house.' The swordsman left hurriedly to the backyard.

Squalo couldn't believe he got carried away just then, Sunday was the only time he could properly sharpen and perfect his swordsman skills, every minute counted and he hated to waste the precious time. He needed these moments to properly train in order to defeat Taros.

Picking up his sword, he jumped into the training field he built with the help of Fran and Lussuria. He went over the basic moves as warm-up, leaping and gliding between the metal pole dummies whilst flawlessly swinging his sword. He didn't permit any mistakes and he didn't make any, the solid practice he did every week allowed his movements to be what they were…perfect. He set his own standards and strove to fulfill them to the best of his ability, drove himself to every corner of his strength.

After he was finished with the warm-up, he switched hands, holding the sword in his right and repeating the same swings but altered to fit his other hand. Normally Squalo wouldn't have bothered but after his fight with a one handed swordsman some years ago, his opinion changed. During the fight he discerned the awkward and strained movements of the man which could only mean the lack of practice and familiarity with the hand he was using, implying that the hand he was forced to use was the weaker of the two. After that, Squalo tried his best to be familiar with both hands incase he suffered the same fate as the crippled swordsman, sometimes he would even complete missions with his weak hand, just to get used to the feel of it.

Upon completing his routine for the right hand, he worked on moves where he still occasionally made mistakes. Those were the moves he invented himself and he could only tell the flaws when he observed himself from the films he recorded. Making sure the camera was fixed and turned on, he continued his practicing and eventually reached the set of moves that he definitely wasn't confident with. The said moves were imprinted into his mind clearly and perfectly but for some reason he could not reenact them like he envisioned.

He could only blame it on his lack of practice. Nobody else saw those moves, Squalo wasn't planning to use them until he had perfected them and when he did, they would be his proudest achievements. Pausing and taking a deep breath, he sliced through each of the dummies at breakneck speed. When he was done, the metal heads fell to the floor simultaneously with a loud thud. _Still__ not __perfect_.

'Hn, impressive…trash.'

Squalo almost dropped his sword out of surprise and turned around quickly to find Xanxus casually leaning on one of the barriers, looking pleased.

'VOOI, what…what the fuck!' The surprise turned into anger almost instantly, 'who the hell gave you permission to watch me?'

Squalo felt vulnerable and exposed as if he were standing nude whilst being carefully scrutinized. The scarred man in front of him had personally witnessed the elaborate display of all his flaws. He was deeply embarrassed, no…more than that, he felt weak, weaker than he had ever felt all his life. He wanted to curse the heavens for not making him notice Xanxus' presence earlier and he cursed himself also, for getting carried away whenever he held a sword in hand. Helpless, he could only watch the slight grin on the tanned face and stood still, awaiting his judgment.

'You said I could do whatever I wanted _scum_, so I did.'

Despite Squalo's annoyance, he noticed that Xanxus spoke to him with a streak of respect in his tone which wasn't there before. And judging from the smirk on his face, the raven looked happier than Squalo had ever seen him. That did nothing to ease his discomfort however, he could feel the blood pulsing through his face and hoped the blush wasn't too obvious. The thrill of the blade in his hands made him forget Xanxus' presence, he was so used to having only Fran and Lussuria in the house that he failed to consider the extra guest during the stimulating experience.

He forgot that if Xanxus decided to set foot in the yard, he would have full view of Squalo's training session. Previously he had always made sure Fran & Lussuria were completely busy with some matter before he started so they had no chance of walking in on the act. Squalo made sure that even they did not see him train.

'Trash, why are you looking like that?' The tanned man was unaware of the emotional quarrel within Squalo and was further bemused when the swordsman shot him a hateful glare.

'You…you…,' Squalo struggled to find the correct words to describe why he was feeling the way he was. 'You saw…those moves…'

'What about them? They were perfect.'

Squalo was positively flustered at the raven's comment. He couldn't help feeling a little pleasure in receiving a compliment from a man who rarely showed any emotion. But he also felt that the display just then was unworthy of such praise, nevertheless he took pride in the fact that he somehow managed to _impress_ someone with such power and authority like Xanxus.

'Perfect? They weren't fucking perfect. What are you talking about…?' Squalo knew what '_perfect_' was and the show he put on a moment ago definitely did not fit that description. He wondered if Xanxus was saying it on purpose to humiliate him, to mock him…but he quickly threw away those suspicions. During the short time spent with him, Squalo figured that Xanxus wasn't the type to purposely denigrate anyone, Taros did every chance he got but Xanxus was different person altogether.

'I thought they were perfect.' He repeated.

The man's stubbornness caused Squalo to snarl. A spark of anger joined itself within his fray of emotions.

'What the hell would you know about swordplay?' He didn't care how hurtful those words could have been but another question popped into his mind as soon as he said it. He actually didn't know what kind of weapon Xanxus himself used, or if he even used any. He wasn't carrying anything when Squalo rescued him and whatever he did would have been confiscated by Grid during his capture. He wondered if by any slight chance that Xanxus was also a swordsman but then decided that he most likely wasn't. Any swordsman with Xanxus' strength wouldn't have been so easily awed by the moves that Squalo executed. _An__ axe?_ No, that didn't seem right he thought as he tried to picture Xanxus holding an axe. The weapon should be calm but have the potential to be explosive at the same time, something that suited Xanxus' unpredictable personality.

The raven shrugged,'…whatever,' he replied. Squalo was moved by the lack of anger from the man and let his curiosity take over.

'Does the Vongola have any swordsmen?' The possibility was high, he thought, that there might be someone from the organization more skillful in swordplay than he was.

'A few,' his red pupils drifted toward the top left corner of his eye, 'one with skills like yours.'

Excitement filled the silver haired man as he heard those words, _so__ there__ were__ actually __swordsmen out there__ that__ lay __unchallenged __by __him_. He was about to ask if any were stronger but he got his answer before the words left his mouth.

'He won't be able to beat you though,' Xanxus said thoughtfully.

Squalo was relieved but also somewhat disappointed. For a short-lived moment he wished whoever the swordsman was that they would be able to beat him so that he can have a goal to aim for instead of working with no objective. That was quickly overcome with renewed delight that nobody in Tephire, no matter where and who they were could best the results of his hard work.

Noticing the wide grin on Squalo's face, Xanxus decided to voice his own opinion.

'The Vongola could do with a swordsman like you.' And he wasn't lying when he said it. Squalo's mystifying skill with the sword held some sort of mesmerizing power over him and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was the first time he had seen such ability with a metal blade and his respect for the shark increased a hundred-fold from the mind-blowing display.

Squalo with renewed pride at Xanxus' remark, took his sword and continued to practice. Stroke after stroke he attempted to make the most of every swing and stab, eager to impress the man further. Xanxus remained in his spot, watching and observing every movement the shark made and trying to decipher the meaning behind it. He watched, captivated as Squalo flicked his wrist, causing the blade to dance at his fingertips, silver hair flowing with every stance. After a while, he noticed Fran & Lussuria watching quietly from behind the window. From the casual expressions on their faces he concluded that this wasn't the first time they secretly watched their master train.

Only when night appeared before them did Squalo halt his actions and walk back. Xanxus was willing to see more but did not make any comment as he followed the swordsman into the house where Lussuria had already cooked them dinner. Fran and Lussuria managed to remove all traces of the blood, how they did it Squalo didn't know as he was incompetent as ever when it came to cleaning but he was pleased at the result. Xanxus' steak was also delivered without trouble and would be able to last them the week (hopefully).

When they were retiring for the night, Squalo gave Xanxus a wide grin, showing all his bright white teeth and the latter grunted back. The words that Xanxus said to him remained clearly etched into his memory and the shark was glad that his tedious training paid off. He was grateful for the fact that someone else paid attention to the small details that he so desperately worked on and the way Xanxus looked at him when he was watching sent shivers down his spine.

The next morning Squalo left for the main building before anyone else in the household woke. Mondays were the days where his shift started early and ended later than usual, he didn't mind the work as he was getting paid well for it but he heard many complaints from his colleagues about the rule.

With the blood from his seats gone, he didn't have to worry about people looking into his car and was able to enter his workplace in a content mood. When he reached the common room, Taros was there waiting for him much to his displeasure.

'Look who it is…' he said, cheek resting on his left hand and besting a bored expression though Squalo could detect a look of triumph in those features.

'Had fun with the Vongola shit?' He asked sardonically and when his men looked questioningly, he replied. 'I let Superbi take care of him since he was begging me to let him have a turn.' The people surrounding them laughed but were immediately silenced by Squalo's piercing glare. He should have seen this coming, he knew Taros wouldn't miss a chance to belittle him but was surprised at the amount of self control he had over the situation. Normally he would have yelled and argued back pointlessly but right now he was perfectly calm, maybe because of the knowledge that he smuggled the very person out, right in front of Taros' nose. Ignoring him, Squalo turned and made to walk toward the notice board.

'Where are you going? We have a client waiting for us.'

Squalo's head snapped right back. 'Voi, what do you mean?'

'We've been paired up for a mission,' he said it with a malicious expression, 'our client is waiting for us.'

Taros got up from his seat and walked toward the exit and motioned for Squalo to follow. Fuming, he obeyed and strode beside the man, cursing every entity that came to mind. _What __on __earth __did __he__ do __to__ be __paired __up __with __Taros? _Whatever the mission was, he was going to refuse. He didn't want to deal with the likes of Taros at the moment.

The man beside him noticed his discomfort and grinned at the hateful glower he received from the silver haired man. Of the two men, Squalo was shorter by more or less a couple of inches; a small difference but Taros took every chance to exploit it anyways.

'By the way Superbi, I had a talk with one of the cleaners this morning.'

'So what?'

'They told me some interesting things – '

'Spit it out,' he snarled. He felt a bubble of fear but reassured himself that the cameras were turned off and the cleaners weren't there when he was carrying Xanxus out.

'They found a water bottle, and some sandwiches in cell R24.'

Squalo felt the blood in his veins freeze at the statement. _Fuck_. It took all he had to maintain the careless demeanor on his exterior whilst he attempted to subdue the panic bubbling in his abdomen. _How__ could__ he __forget__ about __those!_

'And?' He snapped, trying to cover up his alarm by sounding unbothered by the news.

'Isn't it strange? How do you think they got there?'

'Are you a fucking dumb shit or something? Obviously one of the pathetic jail keepers felt sorry for the bastard and fed him.' The lie naturally came out and Squalo was relieved to hear that his voice sounded normal despite his fear.

'After I specifically ordered them not to provide him with provisions?'

'Well it looks like you got fucking disobeyed because when I went in to finish off the trash, the sandwiches n' shit were already there. I'm not surprised though, I can name a hundred soldiers who fucking hate you.'

Taros paused at this statement as if he had never considered someone disobeying his orders. After a while he seemed to have accepted what Squalo said.

'I'll have a word with those maggots after I'm done here,' the man growled. Squalo was pleased to see that Taros looked angry at the jail keeper's apparent disobedience. He knew that whoever he was, Taros would undoubtedly kill him and probably torture him too but if it meant Xanxus' safety, he'd gladly sacrifice a weak noble.

Relieved at his quick escape, he reprimanded himself for leaving such a careless mistake. He wasn't sure how many other clues he left during his panicked state back then and that worried him.

Upon reaching a certain room, the two men made their way inside to a noble sitting on one end of a metal table. Likewise, they each sat on a chair facing their client.

This one was a young man in his early twenties, around Squalo's age. Squalo instantly recognized him as the son of one of the higher ranked nobles, those that often made their appearance in the newspapers and even the croala. He had a pretentious expression on his face which got on Squalo's nerves.

'Voi, what did you want us to do?' He didn't care about his impoliteness; he instantly disliked the boy the moment he set eyes on him. Taros intervened.

'Pardon the rudeness of my subordinate here, Lord Cameo III,' he gave a small bow of his head, 'we kindly request that you inform us of the reason for calling us here.'

Squalo shot a quick glance at Taros and then realized how important the client was. Even _he_ was faking politeness toward the boy, something that Squalo had never seen him do to anyone. The boy looked at Squalo and muttered something that distinctly sounded like 'peasant' and Squalo fought hard to pretend that he hadn't heard.

'My father has allowed me to run a farm by myself,' he started, 'but first I need the necessary land.' He took out a plastic ball and opened it from the seam in the middle. Squalo watched as a hologram of the map of Tephire city was projected out of the object and waited. _Where__ was __this__ even __heading?_

'This is the area that I'm interested in,' he pointed to a red square which marked a section of the map in the lower district. 'It's 500m long on each side, perfect for a small farm but there are peasants in the way.'

'So you want us to get rid of them, my lord?' Taros asked in his annoying fake polite voice.

'Correct. Unfortunately they've put up a struggle when I last tried to reason with them, so my only choice is to obliterate those animals.'

Squalo and Taros exchanged dark looks.

'VOI you brat, why the hell do you need the two of us to do something this easy?' Squalo had just about enough of the noble youth's snobbishness.

'I agree, Lord Cameo I'll be more than enough to handle this mission,' Taros asserted. However to the disappointment of both men, the noble shook his head.

'Sadly I do not have complete faith in the strength of you Grid hunters so I've decided to hire the two best fighters this company has to offer.'

Taros tensed at the comment and Squalo could tell he was hiding his rage at the boy's words. An insult to the Grid hunting squad was an insult to him, the leader. The swordsman however couldn't care less what the noble brat thought about his job, his primary concern was to avoid the mission with Taros if he could.

'I don't care what you think but I'm not wasting my time on some childish slaughter mission,' Squalo was about to get up and leave until the client spoke his next words.

'I'll pay you, one hundred thousand zenos. Each.'

Squalo hesitated, unable to believe his ears at the offer. One hundred thousand was more than what he earned in a month and this spoilt noble was willing to pay him that for just one simple mission. The large sum of money removed all doubt from his mind and now he wasn't reluctant but actually _willing_ to go, a hundred thousand was well worth a few hours spent with Taros.

'Hn, fine.' He replied and looked over to Taros who was still fuming.

He seemed not to care about the amount of Zenos he was getting; no doubt it wouldn't make a considerable difference to his bank account. Slowly he lifted his head, shaking slightly from rage and looked at the client.

'…understood.'

The boy clapped his hands together, looking pleased with the result.

'Perfect, I'll put the Zenos into your accounts and I'm expecting the area to be devoid of life by this afternoon.' He threw the plastic ball at Taros. 'Here's the map if you forgot what area.' When he walked out, Squalo could see Taros scowling at the noble and couldn't help feeling a little cheerful at the sight. Anything that annoyed the grid captain automatically brought a smile to the swordsman's face.

When the two generals made their way to Taros' hovercar, Squalo noticed a gun holster with two guns tucked on each side of his belt that wasn't there before. Taros usually fought barehanded or if he was struggling, with a lance so the sight of those guns generally brought a question to the silver haired's lips.

'Voi, what's with the guns?' Squalo asked, eying them with interest. _Since__ when __was __Taros__ interested __in __accessories?_

Taros paused and looked down to see what Squalo was talking about. 'Oh, I took these from the Vongola bastard the other day.' He smiled proudly at the mention of Xanxus, 'I'm planning to try these out on the mission.'

Squalo felt a surge of anger at his claim. _So__ those__ belonged__ to __Xanxus__…_

'Can I have a look?' He tried to sound as casual as possible, like a subordinate interested in his master's new invention. Taros smirked and threw him one of the guns. Squalo glided his hands over the smooth metal, tracing the edge of the red X on the corner. He smiled inwardly, guns suited someone like Xanxus perfectly, how could he have not thought of it before? However he also wondered how he used them as there was no slot for bullets and no loading space. Reluctantly, he handed back the weapon trying to figure out a way he could bring them back to Xanxus but such a feat was unlikely if the said objects were in Taros' possession.

If he wanted to fight Xanxus properly, he needed him to be soundly armed with his favorite weapon; there wasn't any point if Squalo was unfairly advantaged. But there was nothing he could do for the time being, asking for the weapons would be the same as an open confession and attempting to steal them would give Taros an excuse to kill him. Sitting on the passenger seat while Taros was driving, he allowed his gaze to rain out the window, buildings and hover-mobiles blurred past his eyes but he paid no attention, completely lost in his own thoughts.

He was also annoyed at the humming that came from the other man's mouth.

'Voi, what the fuck are you so happy about?'

Taros gave him a quick glance whilst replying, 'I'm thinking of how to torture those peasants.'

Squalo growled in distaste, he never liked the idea of purposely causing pain to another creature. If he was ever on a slaughter mission, he'd kill his victims quickly since it saved time and got the mission done effectively. Taros on the other hand, liked to emphasize his superior position whenever he could and took pleasure in causing pain to those weaker than he was. Not that Squalo cared though, but waiting for Taros to finish playing with his victims was a waste of time when he could be doing another mission or training.

Before he knew it, Taros landed just outside the red box that was their target and got out of the hovercar. Squalo looked around observing his environment, there were shabby houses built in rows and the target looked like a peasant town. Peasants who lived outside the red box were mumbling and watching them curiously.

Without further hesitation, the two men made their way into the boundary and then into the nearest house, trying to slaughter the residents without causing an uproar. For convenience, the most effective way was to sneak into each house and kill them silently so that none could escape and come back later.

However today, it seems that the town was warned of their arrival and set up certain defenses to counter the two men. Not that those measures taken worked. House after house, Squalo cut down his victims quickly whilst he could hear the agonizing screams of Taros' prey. When they reached the centre of the town, they were ambushed by what looked like peasants that were specially trained in combat. Taros without thinking, pulled out the two guns he acquired from Xanxus and fired. To both men's surprise, nothing happened except the clicking of the trigger and the attackers managed to land a hit on the flustered Taros.

'Fuck, these are useless,' he yelled and threw the guns to the floor whilst the ambushers attempted to escape into a nearby house. Screaming with rage at the blood pouring from his nose, Taros ran after the peasants into the building, leaving Squalo standing alone in the centre of the street. Unable to believe his good luck, the shark picked up the two guns and without thinking tucked them into the inner pockets of his jacket. Then, he ran into another house and another, eager to finish the mission quickly. By now, the houses were empty and many residents were running out onto the street, desperate to escape their impending fate of death.

Squalo jumped from the window and ran after the escapees; the noble brat wanted no one alive which meant he couldn't let anyone escape in case they decided to come back later. To his disappointment, none of the villagers put up a good fight, they tried but were quickly cut down even after Squalo purposely gave them chances to attack. Within minutes, he was surrounded by dead bodies and pools of blood and most peasants were taken care of. Those that managed to escape the swordsman would be the toys of Taros. Knowing that the Grid captain would be enjoying his time torturing some unfortunate peasants and wouldn't be done for a while, Squalo took out Xanxus' guns and observed them carefully this time. They were made of a different metal to what he was used to, he couldn't recognize what it was but it gave him a strange feeling when he touched it.

Pointing to a nearby wall, he pulled the trigger but nothing came out. More curious than ever, he wondered if they broke during Xanxus' hassle at the West tower or when Grid confiscated them. _But_ _they__ look __fine_, he thought, _not__ the __least __bit __damaged_. Putting them back into his jacket, his eyes caught sight of a nearby shop: _artilleries_. Slowly he entered to find his sight met with a huge variety of gadgets and weapons. His attention was drawn to the various swords displayed on the walls of different shapes and sizes.

Another thing he liked about doing missions was the number of items he could obtain from each, it was common for any Grid hunter to take the spoils of his victims or even take the victims themselves. Squalo's own sword he found after a particularly hard mission and he had a whole collection of others back at his house, all containing the blades that caught his eye.

Slowly, he took down a particularly long katana and unsheathed it. The blade gave off a silvery glow in the darkness of the room, much like Squalo's hair and he was instantly captivated by its beauty. There were mysterious carvings and markings on the blade, symbols that Squalo wasn't familiar with, nevertheless he gazed at the object with wonder. It was a shame to leave something like this for the noble and his men to destroy, plus Squalo had never seen anything like it.

With one swift movement he put the sword back into its sheath and attached it to his belt, then he took down the others from the wall and observed them one by one. Much to his dismay, none of the others held the magic of the first and he threw them aside. He was about to look further when his mobile rang and Taros' voice ordered him to come back to the hovercar. He didn't notice time passing by so quickly and was surprised to see that his sword examining took almost an hour.

Reluctantly but assured that nothing else was worth his attention, he quickly hurried back to the vehicle to find Taros holding a tied and struggling female peasant by his side.

'Tch, what's that rubbish you have there?' Taros said with an uninterested glance at the extra sword on Squalo's belt.

'Better than what you've got ,' Squalo replied, looking at the female peasant. Taros glared angrily but his rage was not from Squalo's comment on his newly acquired slave.

'Some of those fuckers escaped, I know they did because I saw them run out of the town but I couldn't go after them.'

'How many?' Squalo asked in annoyance, spending the rest of his time tracking those escaped peasants wasn't what he wanted to do.

'A few, but I doubt they'll come back so we'll leave them.'

Squalo gazed around the hovercar to see many peasants staring at him and Taros. He felt like cutting them down but such murders were not necessary as the said peasants did not reside in the town he just destroyed. Children were pointing and whispering whilst their parents hurriedly shushed them, not wanting to offend the two men.

'Argh, should we kill all this scum?' Taros growled.

'Nah, waste of time.'

'Whatever, get in I'm leaving this place.'

Looking around one last time at the desolated village and the surrounding people, making sure that Xanxus' guns were safely tucked in his jacket, Squalo got into the hovercar.

- tbc -

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><p><strong>[AN]** - There, hope you liked that chapter. Not much happened except the development of characters. I hope the other canon characters (from Vongola) were not too OOC, I don't actually 'understand' them as much as I do with Xanxus & Squalo so I'm actually not really sure how IC they are.

By the way, is everything too rushed? I reread it a lot of times and I couldn't help feeling everything's happening a bit quick, not sure what you guys think though.


	3. Humiliation and The Promise

**[A/N] - **There, I know chapter 2 was a bit boring but I hope this chapter is a _little_ better. Still this is a pretty fast update no? I'm on a roll! But chapter four would take longer (I think), since I've planned it to be longer, more stuff happens.

Any confusions refer to the section in ch1, or PM me if I left some things unexplained.

**[note]** - This chapter may seem like it has some slight plot holes, but rest assured they are not! I'll explain them later on. Enjoy reading!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 - HumiliationThe promise**

Xanxus observed his guns carefully, handling them thoughtfully between his fingers as Squalo watched, waiting for a reply. The shiny metal glinted in the light, the two red X's besting a similar hue to fire in his eyes.

'Voi…when Taros tried them, nothing happened,' he told Xanxus, 'they might be broken –'

'They're fine,' Xanxus interrupted, eyes never leaving his guns. Satisfied, he put them back onto the table and continued to eat his dinner as if nothing had happened. Squalo was vaguely disgruntled by the lack of gratitude but withheld his rebukes, he was contented by the sword he had acquired from the recent mission. Finishing his steak, he grabbed it from his lap and observed the markings again, enjoying the way it shone when he tilted the blade.

'Ooh, master found a pretty one this time,' cooed Lussuria as he saw the sword.

'I know,' Squalo said proudly, gazing at the sword like a father gazing at his newborn child, 'it came at a great price though.'

'Eh? What did you have to do?' Asked Fran.

'Destroy a peasant village,' he replied, 'had to slaughter hundreds.'

Squalo wasn't ashamed of his actions but he felt a bubble of guilt when Xanxus' eyes met his.

'Which area?' asked the raven.

'Voi, how would I remember?' he snapped, then remembering the map Taros gave him after the mission he took out the plastic ball and threw it at Xanxus. While the scarred man was observing the area, Fran continued.

'How did Master manage to get the guns though?'

Squalo told him but he could tell that Xanxus was listening intently too, so he revealed only the part when Taros threw them away whilst avoiding the parts when he observed them carefully alone. He then bent over to turn on the croala as a means to avoid Xanxus staring at him. For some reason he felt that the raven looked at him with more esteem than usual after he returned his guns and that made Squalo strangely happy.

For a while all four heads turned to the broadcasting machine. The reporter was talking about the upcoming monthly auction and the types of merchandise to be up for sale. Uninterested, Squalo switched the hologram off and resumed looking at his sword.

'Doesn't idiotic master have to help with the auction too?'

Squalo gave an inward groan; auction week was his least favorite week of the month. It meant considerable changes to his mission routines as any peasant that he normally would have killed now had to be captured instead as items to be sold. Not only was this tedious, the missions would take a lot longer than usual and most of the times he would return home late. Luckily he didn't have to organize it, that was Taros' job.

'Xanny did you know that master Squ bought us both from an auction?' Lussuria asked in a sickly sweet voice, 'he did it because he loooves us.'

'VOOI, don't be ridiculous, I chose you two for your fighting abilities.'

When Xanxus seemed interested in their abilities, Squalo hastened to explain.

'Lussuria is an expert at martial arts…'

'Aww, master always talks so highly of me,' the flashy man blushed slightly.

'…and Fran can create illusions.' He finished.

'That trash is an illusionist?'

'Yeah, I am,' replied Fran, 'and I prefer it if you didn't call me 'trash' you big meanie –'

'Voi, why are you so interested anyways?' Squalo interrupted.

'…no reason.' But Squalo wasn't convinced, the gleam in Xanxus' eyes told him that the scarred man was definitely asking more than just to cure his curiosity.

Knowing that he wasn't going to get anything else out of the raven, Squalo got up and left for his room.

The next day at the main building, most of the grid hunters were preparing for the upcoming auction. A B-class told Squalo that the Axel was going to attend this one, explaining why everyone was so hyped up about the event. The amount of effort and work put into each auction depended heavily on who was actually going to attend. Regular nobles experienced regular auctions but if someone important decided they were going to be present, then the actions taken to set up the auction were considerably different. The Axel rarely went to auctions but when he did, the occasion was treated as priority over anything, even hunts for Vongola members.

Plus, many people wanted to see the axel himself who hardly ever left his palace. Squalo was interested too but his primary concern was still to improve his skill in combat and his chances to do so dramatically decreased when preparations for the auction were being held.

'Oi Superbi!' Mateo ran toward him, looking huffed. 'General Taros just called a meeting for all the S-classes, it's about the auction.'

Squalo scowled and followed him running, as much as he hated anything to do with Taros and the auction, he didn't want a reason for Taros to beat him up later. Bursting into the meeting room, he was relieved to see that he and Mateo weren't late as there were two other seats empty. A minute later, the missing S-classes appeared and everyone required was present.

Squalo looked around to see five others including Mateo and Taros who were S-classes. There were only six, in the entire Grid. Squalo didn't know the names of the other three, one with short black hair, one who was bald and a woman with shoulder-length red hair. Taros, seeing that everyone was here decided to start.

'Listen up, I've heard confirmation this morning that Axel Pohlepa will be attending the auction this week,' he glared at the people around him, 'which means the auction must be fucking _perfect_,' he snarled.

Everyone in the room except Squalo nodded attentively, the shark gave an audible 'psh'. Taros' eyes shone menacingly at the sound but he didn't chastise the shark.

'I've organized a list of most of the stuff we're going to put up, and I want them all collected by Thursday.' He threw a plastic ball at each of them. 'To my office when you've got one.'

Squalo and the others opened their balls to have a hologram of each item displayed in front of their eyes. There were a few women slaves, a few men, and the rest a variety of expensive objects and animals. Squalo picked one of the items to find a map that replaced items, he assumed it was the location of the said object. He couldn't believe he was going to spend his whole week hunting down inanimate _objects _and weak slaves. He sincerely hoped their owners would put up a good fight.

'How much are we getting paid to do this?' Asked the bald man.

Taros growled, 'nothing you piece of shit, this is our own mission so as an S-class it's your fucking _duty_ to listen to my orders and support the auction.'

The bald man nodded and looked down without another word to avoid a possible beating. Squalo, disappointed at the man's submissiveness decided to take matters into his own hands.

'Voi, we aren't your lapdogs Taros,' he challenged, 'I'm not going to spend my whole week doing the shit you're supposed to do.'

'Superbi's right,' commented the woman, 'as the leader it's your job to organize the auction, you can't just dump that job on us because you're too-'

Taros silenced her with a hard punch to the face. The woman fell out of her chair, mouth bleeding copiously. Squalo was surprised at Taros' lack of action against himself but then realized he was probably going to get punished later.

'Anyone else with a complaint can speak up now,' his tone was laced with poison as he glanced around at the lot. Squalo didn't want to test his boss' temper so he remained silent. The meeting continued with Taros giving information on each of the captives but mostly just him threatening to kill anyone who fails to complete their objective. After it was over and everyone was dismissed, Squalo was called back.

Knowing that whatever Taros wanted do to him was probably punishment for his snide comments earlier on, he grudgingly stayed in the room while the four others made their way out.

'Superbi,' Squalo turned around to face him.

'I don't have all day –'

'Your sword,' Taros said eyes full of malice, 'I'm taking it for the auction.'

Squalo glared at him whilst controlling the growing rage within him. He knew this was to get him back from before and he also knew that the 'sword' Taros was talking about was the very sword he acquired during the mission yesterday. He snarled, there was no way he'd give up his treasure, for some reason he had grown quite attached to the blade. Feigning stupidity, he detached the current sword from his belt and threw it at Taros.

'Voi, here you go.'

Taros frowned and swung the sword forward in an attempt to stab Squalo but the shark reacted quickly and stopped the blade with his two hands.

'You know what I'm fucking talking about. The sword you got yesterday, bring it to me.' His eyes shone with fury but Squalo wasn't intimidated. The bastard didn't think the sword was worth the auction at all, Taros just wanted to take the thing that he cherished and watch him struggle.

So this is why Taros wanted to talk to him alone, thought Squalo. Taros knew that he would resist and thus, give himself a reason to beat the shit out of him. But if Taros wanted a fight, he was going to get a fight. He wouldn't give up his spoils of war that easily.

'No fucking way,' he yelled as he attempted to snatch his sword back. The sudden movement surprised Taros and Squalo's attempt was successful, the Grid hunter captain now had the edge of Squalo's sword at his neck.

'You dare defy me?' He sneered, not showing any hint that he was afraid of the weapon pressed against his skin. Squalo looked into his eyes, they showed strength but it was nothing compared to what Xanxus' eyes held when they looked at each other. Not daunted the least, he snorted and walked away.

'Fuck yeah,' replied Squalo with as much contempt as he could muster.

Taros didn't stop him as he left the room but Squalo felt that he would have to pay for his insolence eventually.

After completing his missions for the week and another Sunday was approaching, Squalo wanted to try out his new sword during training. Fortunately for him, the auction was tomorrow and he wasn't required to attend which meant he had the whole day off tomorrow, as well as the day today. Xanxus observed him again as he practiced but Squalo didn't mind, in fact he felt he trained better with the raven watching him.

The new sword was lighter than his current one, and that was an improvement as each stroke was smoother and deadlier. He didn't use it on missions, he didn't want to dirty the beautiful object with blood and dirt or subject it to wear and tear. Monday came quickly enough and despite his dislike for the auction, he turned on the large square television in the living room and watched. He was particularly interested in how much Zenos this month's event would fish, Taros wanted at least fifty million and if this prediction came true, Squalo would be earning considerably more in the following missions.

The three others in his household came down to watch with him as they wanted to have a glimpse of the Axel too. The ruler was wearing a robe of gold, chains of valuable gemstones and artifacts decorating his outfit. He had long blonde hair, but not as long as Squalos and his eyes were deep blue. Squalo thought the man couldn't have been that much older than himself. He watched and observed the other nobles who attended too, noticing that they were all extremely important individuals of Grid.

The Tuesday after the auction, Squalo and the other S-classes were called into another meeting but this time hosted by the Axel. He and the Grid elites weren't the only ones attending, when Squalo walked into the large room he was met by at least twenty other important noble heads, a few owners of authority companies and a few people who, judging by their attire were close relatives of the axel. The ruler himself stood in the middle next to Taros whilst the audience sat in chairs around him.

A few nobles gave Squalo looks of disgust as he walked around them to his own seat and he snarled back, showing all his bright white teeth. He knew that he was the only peasant in the room but was not bothered by it, knowing that he would kick all their asses if he wanted to. The two nobles sitting beside him shifted away slightly as if Squalo was carrying some sort of contagious disease and he pretended not to notice. The room suddenly quietened down when the Axel was about to speak.

'Welcome, my good friends, allies and of course, the elite grid hunters,' he greeted, opening his arms wide as if offering a hug. 'Your recent auction has left an utterly positive impression on me and I must say I have yet to experience such an exquisite event in the time I've been in this position.' He directed his thanks to the corner where Squalo and his colleagues were seated and reluctant applause broke out. Now that Squalo had a proper look around the room, he recognized them all as the people who he saw attend the auction.

In his opinion, the auction wasn't that much different from their regular ones and judging from the expressions of many, his opinion was shared. He didn't know why the Axel was so hyped up about it and neither did most in the room.

'I sincerely thank you, Taros, for preparing the life-changing occasion.' More applause whilst Taros stood straighter, smiling and looking prouder than he ever did.

'To show you all my perpetual gratitude, I've invited everyone in this room, including you S-class hunters to a celebration party this Thursday at none other than my palace in the high district.' Gasps of surprise were heard, even Squalo was moved by the invitation. Very few people have set foot in the Axel's palace, sure it would get in the way of his training but Squalo didn't have a choice whether or not to go at any rate. When the axel gave out 'invitations' he expected everyone invited to be there, or else he would take it as offense and punish accordingly.

'I thank you humbly, your grand majesty for your generosity and kindness at this offer,' commented Taros, 'I'm sure that _all_ of us grid hunters will attend.' With that he gave a quick glance at Squalo. He continued to speak his thanks whilst the swordsman zoned out, paying more attention to the split ends in his silver hair than Taros' words.

When the meeting finished, Squalo left hastily in the hopes of completing another mission. The meeting was a complete waste of his time and he did not see the point of inviting all the S-classes. Plus, he didn't even want to go to the stupid party, the notion of seeing the Axel's palace did hold some interest but the idea of spending hours with a group of snobby nobles didn't.

Squalo was quiet during dinner due to his unhappy mood resulting from the day's events. His mind was occupied elsewhere and such strange behavior did no go unnoticed by the people in his household.

'Why are you so quiet trash?' Xanxus asked. Squalo ignored him.

'Master Squalo seems unhappy about something,' commented Fran sounding uninterested despite the concern in his eyes.

'Squ-honey, was it Taros?' Lussuria frowned behind his sunglasses. Squalo shook his head.

'VOI, if it bothers you shits that much,' he growled, 'I have to attend some shitty party at the Axel's palace this Thursday.'

'Oh!' Lussuria's expression shone with excitement, 'a party, master you should –'

'Hell no.'

This was exactly why he didn't want to tell Lussuria, now that the information was revealed the flamboyant man would be sure to force him into some ridiculous outfit for the occasion.

'S-classes are required to wear their uniforms,' he lied. At least now his servant would lose any hope of any absurd ideas he had (hopefully).

'But master, this is a great chance for you to meet a beautiful noble woman!'

Squalo chucked his empty plate at his servant who gracefully dodged the projectile, to his disappointment.

x.x.x.x

Squalo parked his car outside the gigantic castle-like building and walked toward the solid silver gates at the entrance. His hair was tied back into a long ponytail and carefully combed (thanks to Lussuria). He didn't bring any weapons for the occasion, if a situation where he had to defend himself occurred, he was perfectly capable of fist fighting.

The gatekeepers gave him a dirty look but reluctantly allowed him entrance. The Axel Pohlepa was waiting at the door, greeting each of his guests as they walked in. When it was Squalo's turn, he gave the same treatment but the shark didn't fail to notice the hesitation before they shook hands and the forced smile given to him.

When he was inside the building, Squalo couldn't help giving a small 'whoa' at the sight in front of him. The hall was huge with delicate carvings decorating the walls, various portraits hung, framed with solid gold. The floor was made of perfectly polished marble and crystal chandeliers dangled from the ceiling. There were tables and tables of food cooked to perfection, dishes that Squalo had never known existed, free to be taken by anyone who wished.

At the centre of the hall was a square, about 50m on each side, no doubt reserved for performances when the Axel wanted to be entertained. Right now that square was filled with guests, walking around and talking to each other. Many women wearing revealing outfits carried trays of food and drinks around to guests, Squalo couldn't tell if they were noble or peasant, maybe a combination even. Walking around the hall, he stumbled across a certain portrait near the Axel's throne.

The picture depicted a young man with great resemblance to the current Axel, blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Underneath the portrait a gold block read '_His majesty, Axel I Pohplear_'. So this was the first Axel, thought Squalo. He had heard rumors that the man was very competent in combat, earning his title as the first axel of Tephire city through strength. Decades ago, he was defeated by seven strange individuals who possessed powers that rivaled his own, but before he died he placed a curse on them.

The story was often told by nobles to their children and each time the 'curse' was different, altered to fit whatever the parents had in mind, hence Squalo did not know exactly what happened to the seven who won the fight. Nevertheless, he looked at the picture of the young man with respect. The current Axel, Pohlepa unlike his predecessor, was useless when it came to fighting or so he heard, that's why he needed an army of five thousand in case anyone decided to challenge his position.

Settling himself on a comfortable silk sofa, he looked around the hall and spotted a blonde youth talking to a few elegant noble women. Squalo didn't remember seeing him at the meeting but the man held an air of confidence as he eloquently spoke to his admirers. A whip was attached to his belt, surprising the shark because he noticed it wasn't a laser whip but a solid _normal_ whip. Also, the posture the youth had when talking the females gave him the impression that he wasn't interested in seducing them, but was present for another purpose. Ceasing to care about the strange whip-yielding individual, Squalo glanced around him again.

Taros was lip-locked with one of the Axel's concubines, the red haired female and the bald S-class sat in a corner engaged in conversation. He couldn't find Mateo anywhere and assumed he was busy elsewhere with a few women he talked to earlier, the Axel was still greeting his guests. Squalo wished he had someone to talk to but that wish was unlikely to come true as all the nobles kept a fixed distance from him and pretended he was part of the wall behind him.

An hour passed since he arrived when the Axel Pohlepa finally stopped greeting the guests and made his way to the throne directly in front of the red square. Attaching a small voice-magnifier to his robe, he spoke and his voice boomed throughout the hall.

'I hope you are all enjoying yourselves so far in my magnificent dwelling,' many cheers from the guests, 'because I'm about to introduce the acts I've prepared for this evening.'

A spotlight shone, lighting up the square causing any guests who were standing to move out the way quickly. The area was cleared in no time and Squalo saw two of the Axel's servants drag a ragged man to the centre. Another two servants pushed a caged orange tiger but Squalo noticed the metallic gleam of its claws and teeth and knew automatically that it was half real and half artificially created. Both the man and the tiger-cyborg were bought from the recent auction.

With a sudden understanding of what was going to happen next, Squalo sighed. The audience were now roaring and booing at the ragged peasant man who was struggling without avail at his captors. When the servants were safely out of the way, metal bars sprung up from the ground, separating the spectators from the performers. With the press of a button, the Axel released the monster from its cage.

Squalo watched apathetically as the ragged man faced off with the robot.

'This is a test for my new purchase,' the Axel commentated, 'I'm going to train it as an ultimate killing machine and use it against those Vongola scum.' The nobles in the audience gave an enthusiastic applause and watched the show unfold with new interest.

Squalo watched without emotion as the tiger struck at the man suddenly from behind and sunk its sharp metal teeth into the man's neck. The slave was dead before he hit the ground, head dangling loosely from the body attached by a thin piece of flesh. The audience hollered with laughter and Squalo grimaced with disgust. He noticed that the blonde youth with the whip also did not laugh but was watching the scene with calm horror. However when the women around him noticed, he gave a convincingly fake smile as if he too were enjoying the show.

The metal bars dropped back into their slot underground and the servants hurried forward to clean up the mess. The tiger-cyborg was put back into its cage and taken out of sight. This time, a female noble along with two muscular males appeared. Squalo looked away when they were engaging in the erotic act whilst the audience cheered them on. He himself had never had to urge to undertake such actions, he wasn't attracted to anyone and no noble would ever touch him.

Only when the act was finished did Squalo avert his eyes toward the square again. The Axel didn't call out anyone this time so the shark assumed all the shows were finished.

'I have one more show to display,' he announced, 'and for this one I thought nothing better than to have the two strongest generals of Grid put on a fight for all of us to see!'

The message took a while to register in Squalo's mind and when it did, he was confused to find absolute seriousness in the Axel's announcement. He didn't want to fight against Taros in front of all those nobles, besides he didn't even bring his sword with him.

'I believe a traditional hand to hand fight would be welcome by all of us,' he continued. The crowd whooped in approval much to Squalo's discontent.

'So please welcome, captain of the Grid hunters General Taros and the hunter Superbi Squalo!'

Taros broke away from the woman he was with to walk to the glowing red square. He spotted Squalo in the crowd and gave him a challenging glance. The shark scowled and reluctantly rose from his seat to join him in the performing area, Squalo didn't want to lose face in front of all the important individuals of Tephire but anyone who disobeyed the Axel's orders were allowed to be punished on the spot.

Squalo glared hatefully at Taros who didn't show any surprise at the sudden announcement. The shark knew immediately that this was his punishment for all his actions against the Grid hunter captain, and he hated to admit how good Taros' plan was. Humiliation in front of a group of stuck-up nobles would indeed be the perfect punishment for someone like Squalo.

Whispers went around the room concerning the silver haired shark. He could make out various degrading words and he hated it, being looked upon like a dirty object. His head turned and he made sudden eye contact with the blonde youth. He thought his eyes were deceiving him when he saw that the man's blue eyes were full of concern and refused to believe that a noble would possibly feel sympathetic toward him.

Ignoring the hurtful comments around him, Squalo tried to focus all he had on the upcoming fight. He was at a huge disadvantage as Taros was an expert at fighting with his bare hands, nevertheless he was determined to put up a good fight and if by any slight chance, beat the man. He barely heard it when the Axel said 'begin' and the crowd roared.

The two men circled each other, Squalo waiting for the attack to come. On these occasions he had to put aside his predatory nature and become the defending prey instead. If he attacked openly, Taros would be sure to find a flaw in his movements and counter his actions, hence all he could do was set up his own defense for the upcoming assault.

Taros suddenly ran forward and lifted his right leg up for a kick, which Squalo blocked with his left arm. The shark then attempted to land a hit on the other man's neck with his other arm but his movement was dodged swiftly. Snarling, he jumped a delivered a strong kick to the other's man's face which to his surprise, managed to hit its mark with a satisfying thud. Blood spurted out of Taros' mouth and his eyes blazed with fury at the attack.

The crowd booed Squalo but were pleased when Taros made a quick recovery and regained his stance. Squalo gave a small gasp in surprise when Taros lunged forward with a punch and he felt the other man's skin brush roughly against his face as he dodged. Noticing the grid captain's exposed abdomen, the shark attempted to knee him in the stomach but a hand blocked the knee and the swordsman jumped back quickly before Taros could exploit any openings Squalo created by the attempt.

He didn't know how much time passed. A minute? Two minutes? He was now using all his center of attention to dodge the flurry of incoming blows by Taros. He didn't dare pause to observe any flaws in the other man's movement as Taros could easily land a dangerous hit on him if he wasn't focused. Squalo found himself panting as they broke away and circled each other again. He had almost forgotten how strong the other man was.

Taros on the other hand was in no better condition. He glowered at the amount of resistance Squalo was putting up. The shark noticed the deadly gleam in his eye as they looked at one another, refusing to take eyes off the other as each thought of his own plan for the next attack. Squalo let his posture slump for a second but that was enough for Taros to run forward and execute a perfect uppercut against the swordsman's chin. Squalo tasted blood and chided himself for that moment of weakness as he flew across the floor.

The crowd gave a joyous cheer and began to chant Taros' name. Squalo ignored them and rolled over quickly when Taros bent down to punch. Getting to his feet, he wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and thought of ways to get back. Moving forward, he feinted left and attempted to land a hit from his right but Taros saw through and grabbed his arm firmly, pulling Squalo close and closing the distance from them.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, he bit down hard onto Squalo's exposed neck. The swordsman yelled in pain and pulled away, hand clutching his neck injury which was bleeding slightly. The red teeth shaped mark however, was seen by everyone in the hall. For a moment, the room was silent and the only noise was Squalo's pants of fury and humiliation. Then, a burst of laughter followed as everyone realized what had happened.

To Squalo's anger, Taros gave a wide smile and waved to the cheers from the audience. The shark was almost shaking with rage as the surrounding nobles pointed to his neck and made sardonic comments.

'…very fitting for a dirty peasant…'

'…served him right –'

'Well played by general Taros…'

'- indeed'

They all understood the meaning behind the gesture.

Squalo couldn't believe that he was in his current position, a huge part of him wanted to slaughter the laughing audience but the other, softer and more vulnerable part lost all sense of mind. He wanted to kill them all but at the same time he also wanted to cry his eyes out at the disgrace he was experiencing. Unable to form a coherent thought, he could only stand frozen in the middle of the room, subject to the never-ending laughter and insults that came from all directions.

He felt dizziness creep slowly into his mind but resisted the urge to fall to his knees. He won't allow himself to be denigrated anymore with weak actions. Looking at Taros, he only then realized how much he detested the man, every feature from his cowardly personality to his dark brown eyes. And it killed Squalo to know that standing here, watching him bask in the glory of his successful actions, there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The swordsman bowed his head and his eyes came in contact with the dark red floor, the same shade as Xanxus' piercing eyes. All of a sudden, he felt a new source of energy appear inside him as he visualized the scarred man's glare however the lifting moment quickly depreciated and anger replaced. Standing up straight and removing his hand from his bleeding neck, Squalo marched his way to the front door. The laughing nobles hastily moved away as he approached, still pointing at the wound on his neck with glee. '

The silver haired man didn't care if he was upsetting the Axel by leaving so suddenly, all he wanted to do was go back home. Blood was pounding in his ears and he knew he had to confine himself somewhere, from his experience he was most likely to do something reckless if he didn't physically force himself otherwise. Starting up the engine to his hovercar, he drove at breakneck speed desperate to reach his house.

He didn't care about the beeps and the curses he received from the other drivers as he wove in and out of traffic. He needed to go somewhere safe as his self control was rapidly slipping away.

When he reached his mansion, he banged the front door and heard a small cracking noise but he didn't care at all.

'Master Squalo!~' Lussuria came out to greet him. 'How was the party? You're back early!'

Squalo ignored him and continued to storm his way upstairs.

'What's that mark on master's neck?' Asked Fran, grabbing Squalo to have a closer look. The swordsman pushed him away roughly onto the floor.

'…oww'

Disregarding the questions thrown at him by his servants, he walked up the stairs eager to not look at them. From the corner of his eye, he could see Xanxus watching him indifferently from the entrance of the dining room but he walked on. When he reached his room, he slammed it shut and locked it tight. He could hear Lussuria's cries of worry outside and the knocking on his door but he paid no attention.

Throwing his jacket to the floor, he jumped into bed attempting to forget the pain he suffered a few moments ago. The knocking stopped and he could hear Fran and Lussuria making their way back into the kitchen.

Outside and down at the dining room, Lussuria was on the verge of tears and Fran was hurt at his master's sudden cold attitude.

'What happened to master?' exclaimed the flamboyant man in an upset voice. 'I didn't know he hated parties this much…'

'Did you notice the huge bite mark on his neck?' commented Fran, 'it looked like someone gave him a really hard kiss…'

'But still, there's no reason to get angry at _us_ for it.'

They both looked at Xanxus.

'Xanny, what do you think?'

'He was…humiliated probably,' he answered.

'What makes you think that?'

Xanxus shrugged.

'It's the only way to drive someone like him to that kind of state,' he explained casually, 'nothing else would make him that upset.'

'That's true, idiotic master sure is proud…'

'hmm, I wonder if Taros did it. Master Squ really hates him.'

'But Luss, he was with all those stuck up nobles, anyone could have humiliated him especially since he's the only peasant there.'

Lussuria gave a deep sigh, shaking his head slowly.

'Oh well, let's hope he forgets about it tomorrow. All he needs is a nice refreshing sleep to forget his pain.'

But the next day to their surprise, Squalo did not come down. Nor the day after or the one after that. He didn't even leave his room for food. He had access to water though, but that didn't stop his servants from worrying. Lussuria had to answer his calls from work, making up excuses to why he couldn't be there. After the fourth day, Fran was contemplating breaking the door down to see if Squalo was alright, he hadn't made a single noise for the whole period that he was in there.

'Let him be,' said Xanxus when they told him their plans. They complied reluctantly.

After a week, Squalo was still locked in but gave signs that he was living. They could hear the water from the shower flowing every time the swordsman decided to wash, that was the only indication that he was still alive in his room.

A few days later on a Sunday, when the three residents were eating breakfast, Squalo decided to escape his confinement. Slumping slightly, he made his way downstairs to the dining room. Living for over a week without food, Squalo's skin was paler than usual and bags were obvious under his eyes. The mark that Taros made on his neck glowed redder than ever and he didn't bother to hide it.

'Master Squalo! ~' Lussuria screamed when Squalo walked in. The man jumped and gave his master a hug that Squalo didn't bother pushing away.

Fran dropped his fork in surprise at the swordsman's appearance. Even Xanxus looked up from his steak to scrutinize the silver haired man.

Squalo sat down tiredly in his seat as Lussuria rushed to prepare him breakfast.

'Had enough sulking?' Growled Xanxus. Squalo looked at him but was too tired to respond. He took a fork and started to wolf down the food that Lussuria presented to him. The room was quiet as they all watched Squalo eat, steak after steak. Only when he finished did anyone dare speak.

'Can master tell us why he locked himself up for nine days?' Pleaded Fran.

When Squalo refused to answer, Xanxus cut in.

'_Weakling_…whatever it is get over it,' he hissed. The comment infuriated Squalo and he felt all his bottled up anger from the past nine days burst forth rapidly at that moment.

He slammed his fist down onto the table and stood up, glaring with all the hatred he could muster at the Vongola elite. Fran and Lussuria stepped back, watching the scene unfold in front of them.

'What…would _you_…understand, about _this_,' his voice shook with fury as he pointed to the mark on his neck. He wanted to hurt Xanxus, to beat the infuriating calm demeanor out of him.

'I don't understand,' the raven snarled back with equal ferocity, 'but at least I don't sulk for days about _one_ fucking incident.'

Squalo walked toward Xanxus, grabbed his shirt and slammed him to the nearby wall, breathing deeply to calm himself.

'Do you know what this mark means?' He asked, voice calmer but ten times more deadly. When Xanxus didn't answer, he proceeded to explain.

'The first Axel, Pohplear, was a fighter but at the same time he was known to be extremely possessive. He had many slaves, all those who were defeated by him in battle but most prominent of all he had a whole lot of concubines, or that's what they say at least…'

Xanxus, Fran and Lussuria were all listening intently. Having no relation to nobles, none knew the stories that noble parents told their children. Squalo slackened his grip on Xanxus and continued.

'He had too many I think and he was too busy to keep an eye on all of them, as a result some ran away. When he discovered that some concubines were missing, he was furious as you can guess. So to prevent them from running, or more like to recognize any who ran away he tattooed a bite mark on each of their necks. Anyone who had that mark was disparaged, considered the same as shit…'

'Is that it?' Xanxus murmured. Squalo felt his anger rise again.

'Voi, what do you mean 'is that it'?' He shouted, 'are you too fucking stupid to know what this mark means nowadays? It means I'm fucking nothing! When Taros bit me he was removing my rights as a warrior! He was implying that I'm lower than dirt, that I'm a fucking sexual object…' He yelled and punched the wall, successfully creating a fist sized hole, 'he's saying that I'm a weak, wretched, fucking useless prostitute!'

Letting out a deep breath, he seated himself again twining his fingers through his hair to let out his aggression. Xanxus looked at him and Squalo shivered, even in the mental state that he was in he couldn't deny the strength behind those red eyes.

'You're pathetic,' he commented never averting his gaze, Squalo felt calmer after glancing at those eyes but the desire to do something reckless escalated inside him again.

'Voi, whatever you say,' he stood up preparing to leave the room, 'I'm going to go fucking kill those nobles, everyone fucking one of them who laughed at me.'

'Master Squ! They'll arrest you, you'll be executed!' Lussuria exclaimed.

'I don't give a shit,' he grumbled and continued to walk toward the door. The raven losing patience, walked after him.

'Voi don't try to stop me!' He yelled as Xanxus grabbed him roughly by the arm and threw him back at the chair. Before Squalo could recover, the raven grabbed both his arms and pinned the swordsman to the wall, establishing a deadly grip on his hands to prevent struggle. Despite being only a couple of inches taller, Xanxus towered over him.

'You advised me before…to think things through instead of losing my head,' his voice now was charged with the imposing tone that fascinated Squalo to no end, 'why don't you take your own advice.'

The swordsman trembled slightly, the supremacy of the scarred man's speech never failed to hold control over him and he relaxed noticeably, causing the other to let go of his arms.

'You don't know how I've been humiliated,' Squalo accused taking a seat again, 'you don't get it –'

'What don't I get?' Xanxus growled, 'I've been whipped in front of you Grid scum for hours, is that not humiliating enough?'

Squalo's anger disappeared almost immediately and he dropped his head in shame. From all his pent up resentment he had truly forgotten that Xanxus was once whipped savagely in front of a large group of Grid hunters.

'…Voi I forgot,' he admitted grudgingly. Xanxus grunted in response, seemingly satisfied that the swordsman wasn't going to try anything rash. Only after noticing that their master was pacified did Fran and Lussuria step out of the shadows.

'Master Squalo, if it bothers you that much I can heal the wound easily, they won't notice a thing.' Lussuria offered.

Squalo mumbled in appreciation, bringing a wide smile onto Lussuria's face as he hurried over to tend to the swordsman's injury. Xanxus brought a chair over and sat beside Squalo, as did Fran. Both watched as Lussuria did his work and when he was finished, the mark was invisible on Squalo's neck. Humming happily, Lussuria and Fran left for their own business, mostly involving fixing the hole Squalo made on the wall and the door that he broke earlier.

When Xanxus still remained behind, Squalo decided to snap at him.

'Voi, what are you staring at?'

'I'm ready,' he replied.

'For what?'

'To fight you.'

When Squalo looked confused, Xanxus reminded him.

'Did you forget the deal we had? I'm ready to fight.'

Squalo suddenly remembered the promise they made when he rescued Xanxus. He almost forgot about it and even for a while thought that Xanxus was going to stay forever. Regret flooded through him as he remembered that the raven would be going back to Vongola after he was properly healed.

'Don't be stupid, those whip marks haven't healed,' he said, eying the bandages wrapped around Xanxus' torso.

'I know, but I'm ready.'

As much as Squalo disliked the man's stubbornness, he had grown quite attached to him.

'Voi, are you going to leave after we fight?' He asked, preparing for the worst.

'No, I'm not ready to leave…yet.'

'But you can fight?' Asked Squalo doubtfully, ignoring the wave of relief that suddenly washed over him after hearing Xanxus' answer.

'Hn.'

Giving up trying to convince the man otherwise, Squalo got up.

'Prepare then, take whatever weapons you want and meet me down here.' He left to his room to get the sword he acquired from his raid at the peasant village. He wanted to put the sword to the test and he felt that Xanxus was someone worthy of having the blade used against him. When Squalo came back down again, Xanxus was holding nothing but his two guns.

'We need somewhere bigger,' the raven told him, 'we'll destroy the yard if we fight here.'

Squalo inwardly agreed.

'There's a large forest nearby and we could find a clearing, is that enough space for you?'

Xanxus grunted and Squalo lead them outside and beyond the yard. The trip took about twenty minutes on foot and the swordsman stopped when they reached a large empty area in the middle of the forest. Unsheathing the sword, he moved into his starting stance, motioning for the other to do the same.

Xanxus responded by pulling out one of his guns and remaining bare-fisted with the other hand. Both men eyed each other readily, waiting for the other to make the first move. Xanxus lifted up his gun hand, aiming for a shot at the swordsman.

'Voi, are you sure you want to use those guns? They don't wor-'

Squalo was cut off with surprise as what looked like a large yellow-orange fireball exploded from the tip of the gun. Without thinking, he immediately sliced his sword through the ball of flame, successfully parting it into two harmless condenses of gas. To his astonishment, his sword was unharmed by the flames and even gave off a faint blue glow. However he was too busy recovering from the shock of Xanxus' attack to marvel at the potential of his new blade. _How close was he to dying just then?_

'How…'

His question was answered as he noticed the orange glow emitted from Xanxus' hand and the red hot metal of the gun that was touching the flesh. He wasn't sure exactly what it was but it looked like the raven was producing some kind of flame with his hands that charged the gun. No wonder they didn't work when Taros used them.

'What are those?' Squalo asked in wonder, forgetting their fight completely.

'Flames,' the scarred man replied. Without waiting for Squalo to register his answer, Xanxus closed their distance with inhuman speed as he aimed his fist at the swordsman. Squalo dodged sideways but then saw his attacker's hand form a huge fireball that exploded near his face. The swordsman was blown off his feet at the impact and landed painfully a few meters away from the raven.

He quickly got to his feet when Xanxus shot another flame ball at him, missing his body by less than an inch. Squalo noticed the disintegrated clump of land that was hit by the compressed energy and fully appreciated the danger of the incoming attacks. Exploiting his moment of weakness, Xanxus punched him hard in the stomach causing the silver haired to spit out blood.

Losing his footing completely, Squalo collapsed onto the ground panting heavily, unable to get back to his feet. To his relief and surprise, Xanxus stopped his assault and instead, took a seat on a nearby boulder. He had made the mistake of underestimating his opponent, and such a mistake was extremely hazardous especially when his opponent was Xanxus.

'Is this all you've got…scum?' Taunted the older man, twirling his gun teasingly.

Squalo grunted and got back to his feet, uncontrollable excitement exploding at the trench of his stomach. Feeling more alive than he had in days, he turned and lunged at the seated man and swung his sword down forcefully. Xanxus was almost caught off guard and quickly blocked the blade with his gun. Squalo jumped back quickly and sliced from a different angle with such strength that the scarred man was forced to stand up in order to avoid the hit.

Not waiting for Xanxus to regain his balance, Squalo began his assault from all directions but the raven managed to block them all, some easily but others barely.

'Hn, that's more like it,' he commented playfully. His ruby eyes gleamed with delight as he looked at the swordsman.

Snarling, Squalo sprung forward but Xanxus managed to grab his sword wrist and pin him onto the ground effortlessly. After Squalo stopped struggling, he let go allowing the silver haired to get back up.

Acknowledging the move, Squalo attacked again and again, trying to catch the Vongola elite off guard. Sometimes it worked but Xanxus always repaired his mistake before Squalo could properly make use of it. Every round they had, Xanxus always managed to subdue him. He had no idea how much time had passed but he wished it would never end, every hit and every block, Squalo knew that he was improving and learning more than he did before.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Squalo sat down on the ground breathing fast whilst Xanxus resumed his seat on the boulder. It didn't shame the swordsman one bit that he was bested by someone else, not to mention someone who was injured. For some reason he felt no embarrassment when he lost to Xanxus, perhaps it was the extent of the scarred man's strength that Squalo knew he would never match up to.

'Voi, how do you keep beating me?' He wasn't frustrated, he was curious. He wanted to know more about the mystery that Xanxus seemed to hold within him.

'You take… a lot of risks,' he replied patiently, looking somewhat amused at the question. Squalo had no idea what he meant but decided he would figure out later. Fighting, talking and being with Xanxus lit a brand new flame inside him.

'VOI!' He stood up suddenly, 'Xanxus!'

The man looked at him expectantly.

'I'll fucking defeat him... I swear. I'll be the one to take Taros down. I'll be the one to kill him…'

Xanxus nodded slowly, waiting for him to continue.

'And I won't stop until I do.' Squalo stuck his sword into the dirt beneath him. 'I make this promise…to _you_.'

The raven stood up slowly and walked toward the swordsman. Squalo felt his heart beat faster with each step the other man took. When Xanxus reached him, he slipped his guns back into his jacket and tilted Squalo's chin up with one hand.

'You'll defeat him.' Xanxus looked directly into Squalo's eyes at the statement –no command - and the younger man this time, instead of letting the scarlet orbs consume him, summoned strength of his own to match their intensity.

'Fuck yeah,' Squalo was surprised at how confident he sounded, eyes blazing with determination.

Xanxus bent down suddenly and kissed him. Squalo let out a gasp of astonishment, allowing the other man to slip in his tongue, large tanned hands caressing the silver haired's neck. The pride within Squalo wanted to push the other man off but the rest of him could not resist the gentle touch of the raven's tongue in his mouth, nor the affectionate strokes on his hair.

Losing all sense of anything except bliss, Squalo stood there and let Xanxus consume him. It surprised him, how easily the other man overpowered and controlled him, how easily he managed to make him forget everything that mattered. It may have been a second, a minute or an eternity when Squalo regained his sense of self.

Snapping back to reality, Squalo pushed Xanxus off him, shocked at his own actions. He immediately missed the warm arms that wrapped around him a moment ago and craved the other man's touch. At the same time, he couldn't stop the color from rising into his cheeks and tried his best to avoid Xanxus' piercing gaze. He was scared to talk, incase his voice betrayed more of his weakness for the other man.

Ignoring the protests from his body, mostly from his heart, Squalo turned around and walked back not wanting to look at the raven. Before he could go far though, he was pulled back roughly into Xanxus' arms again and silenced with another furious kiss.

Squalo was fighting a losing war when he tried to escape from the other's grasp and gave up quickly, allowing the Vongola elite to take whatever actions he desired on him. He didn't know how long they stood there, fixed in the silent embrace until they broke apart and by then, it was already late.

Squalo refused to meet Xanxus' eye when he lead them back to the house, lost in his own thoughts.

-tbc-

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><p><strong>[AN]** - There we go, sorry to disappoint you people but I plan to keep this fic T-rated, that means no lemon/lime/smut whatever you like to call it. This is as 'sexual' as it gets, just plain old kissing, some sap and fluff.

By the way, yes that was Dino Squalo saw at the party, but I'll explain why he was there later. Reviews are greatly appreciated :D.


	4. Where does your loyalty lie?

**[A/N] -**  
>This one's finally up, the next few will be pretty hard to write so don't expect them in a while. In the meantime I've had a lot of things happening in this chapter so sit back and enjoy.<p>

I just realized I forgot to mention their ages, if anyone's confused:

Squalo is 22 (same as canon), Xanxus 24, Other characters their relative ages. Fran should be the age he is right now (when Varia go look for him in the canon manga) so he's still a kid. I'll post these up in the first chapter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 4- Where does your Loyalty lie?<strong>

It had been more than a month since Squalo rescued Xanxus from the cells of Grid's main building. A month since he let Xanxus first watch him train, three weeks since he was humiliated by Taros. Two weeks since that _kiss_.

Squalo remembers the experience like it happened yesterday, Xanxus' smooth tongue gliding inside his mouth and the large warm hands stroking the back of his neck. The memory of the scarred man's rough lips visited him every night and Squalo found himself craving for more of the forbidden passion that coursed between them during the exchange.

When they walked back that day, none of them said a word to each other. Squalo thought that Xanxus, like him was also engrossed in his own thoughts that time. Days passed normally after the incident as if it never occurred. Xanxus still watched him train every week, he still made small comments that caused fireworks within Squalo but neither of them mentioned the fervent practice that happened between them. Perhaps Xanxus was also ashamed like he was. Guilty of the loss of control for that fleeting moment, the moment he let his tender desires get the better of him.

Squalo was relieved but also _disappointed_ that Xanxus did not attempt to make anymore sexual advances toward him. The softer part of him wanted the raven. The other, more dominant part shunned his feelings of attraction, labeling them as 'weak' emotions that will affect his sword fighting skills. He even wanted to hope that Xanxus felt the same way about him but he doubted it, Squalo was aware of the coldness and carelessness that made the raven what he was, he didn't seem to be capable of affection much less love.

Xanxus gave no more offers to spar which meant that Squalo could only improve by self training. Squalo didn't really mind, somehow he felt that he actually _feared_ the scarred man slightly after what happened between them. He remembered that during the days following the incident he unconsciously tried to avoid Xanxus by spending more time at his workplace rather than home. He even ate his meals separately making up excuses for not being able to join them, not to mention purposely taking more errands so that he could arrive home late enough to sleep straight away.

That stopped however, when a fresh new voice in his mind brought his attention to how utterly pathetic his actions were. So he acted normally like Xanxus did, pretending that the raging war in his interior did not exist.

Apart from the confusion he experienced every night when he tried to think about these things properly, there were work matters that bothered him to an extent. For one, another auction was due in a week. The second however had nothing to do with any upcoming events, it may have just been him but Squalo noticed that his colleagues kept their distances from him ever since he went back to work. Not only was that unusual, but he also perceived that when they spoke to him, the respect was gone from their tones. He suspected that it was due to his humiliation at the party, the news must have spread to all ears by now thanks to Taros.

His gut feeling told him it was more than just his humiliation but he ignored it. Losing or winning respect from scum weaker than he was didn't matter the slightest. If he happened to miss something important the days he was locked up he was bound to hear it from the rumors that spread.

Whenever he saw Taros in the common room, he thought of the promise he made to Xanxus. Now that he contemplated his actions properly, the promise seemed more like a kind of contract that bound himself to Xanxus in a way he couldn't describe. The feeling gave him new strength and determination to fulfill his part of the bond.

'Why do you work for Grid?' Xanxus asked suddenly, one evening when they were having dinner.

Squalo looked up in surprise, as did Lussuria and Fran who were also interested in the answer.

'Why the hell do you care?' he snapped back. It wasn't like Xanxus to be suddenly interested in his past, it gave him the false hope that the scarred man actually _cared_ about him in some way. That hope was then reduced to ashes when Xanxus returned to his cold and uncaring demeanor.

'No reason,' the raven shrugged.

Squalo scowled, whenever he tried explaining his personal feelings to anyone, nobody truly understood. But for some reason he thought Xanxus was different, they were both warriors, they were both similar in many ways so he took the shot, hoping that the other man would comprehend him.

'If you want to know my reasons, you'll have to know my history first. Still interested?'

Xanxus gave a small nod causing Squalo's lip to curve back into an angry snarl. The man's stubbornness continued to annoy him to no end.

'VOI! If you're going to be that fucking stubborn, so be it! If you seriously want to hear about my past, you better listen carefully.'

'Master Squalo you've never told us anything about yourself,' Lussuria cooed, 'I'm sooo interested!'

Squalo ignored him and started.

'Hm, well you know I had a pretty shitty childhood because I didn't know my parents at all. They probably died or something, killed by Grid most likely. They probably killed the whole town but missed me. I remember growing up alone in an empty house in a deserted village and stealing off noble farms to get enough food- '

'Poor master Squ!'

'Voi, shut up and listen. My parents must have been fighters too you know, I remember finding a shit load of videos in the house…of course back then I didn't know they were on sword fighting since I couldn't read, I didn't know what made me do it but I decided to put one in…'

'But Squ-honey how did you survive when you were an infant? Someone must have raised you up!'

'I know, but I really don't remember who, I don't care anyways they aren't important. Stop interrupting me!'

Squalo's eyes shone dangerously so Lussuria refrained from asking anymore questions, for now.

'So yeah, I watched the videos and got myself to learn the sword since it was the only thing that allowed me to defend myself. I watched the people swing swords around and back then the closest thing I had was a stick so I used that and tried to copy those movements. At first it was pretty crap, I didn't see what the heck was so special about the shitty blade but I don't know, one day it was like something snapped inside me. I suddenly realized how amazing swordplay was, and I discovered all the possibilities it held…'

'So after that incident, my learning progress quickened immediately and I grew to love the sword. Everything came to me then, everything fitted into place and soon I surpassed the stuff inside the videos. I put in all the other videos I could find in the house, in the hopes of finding another that was on swords and I did find some after hours of looking through them. I was still a kid then, I didn't realize the importance of Zenos or know anything about business, I just knew for some reason I had to be strong in order to survive. I felt powerful with the sword I found in one of the houses, so I kept practicing.'

'I remember walking around my village trying to find another life form but I failed every time, the only indication I had that there were others like me were the people in the video. Of course I saw an occasional noble when I stole from their farm, but they were different somehow, I didn't feel like I could connect with them, it was as if they were alien and not the same species as I was. From the videos I knew I wasn't alone but I don't think I remember seeing a live peasant other than myself until I was ten.'

'So Master grew up thinking there were only nobles in the world?' Asked Fran curiously.

'Voi, that's right…' affirmed Squalo his voice much calmer as he sat reminiscing, 'But when I was ten, I saw this guy walking around the village and near my house. At first glance I knew he was like me although at that time I didn't know there was the distinction between nobles and peasants. Nevertheless I was surprised, I was only ten at the time and I didn't know enough to realize that the man was a slave.'

'Gosh, how did you feel Master? Seeing another peasant?' Asked Lussuria, eyes wide with wonder.

'Can't remember, a mixture of emotions really but that's not important. What I didn't know was that the slave was being chased by a bunch of Grid hunters, and when I went near him those nobles saw me too. They…they killed him but they also beat me up pretty bad.' His voice suddenly turned cold.

'Their faces, those laughing faces when they ganged up on me and took turns pissing on me when they finished. They remain forever imprinted into my mind, even now I can see them clearly…' Squalo realized he was whispering at the painful memory and quickly tried to level his volume.

'That day, something inside me flared, I don't know why they left me alive but I didn't think about it. I felt all these foreign emotions inside me, you know, living alone all those years I didn't know I was capable of experiencing such things. I couldn't describe it then, but now I know that it was anger. Pure, white anger. That anger allowed me to get stronger, but then it also drove me to learn things other than just the sword.'

'I couldn't read or write, I only understood a few words thanks to the sword videos. But after what happened, my mind opened up to all these possibilities probably due to the shock of the sudden strange emotions. For some reason I realized the importance of knowledge as well as strength, hence I taught myself how to read with the books I found in the house as well as the ones from the other deserted houses. I learnt about Zenos, about Tephire city in general, about almost everything that was written in the tomes. I also came to be aware of a place called the higher district, and I learnt that the place where I resided was the lower…'

'Heehee, I can't imagine master sitting down quietly and reading,' Lussuria snickered.

'Neither can I, most of the time he seems too hotheaded to do such a thing,' Fran replied.

'Shut up you trashes! I couldn't read everything you know. And I never tried speaking since I was by myself, I had to watch all these videos to learn how to talk. I was halfway through all the videos when Grid came and burnt down the whole village, I was sleeping and I almost died from the heat. I woke just in time to run away to safety, and when I came back the next day all the houses were destroyed, everything was reduced to ashes.'

'That's horrible,' remarked Fran although he didn't sound sympathetic in the least, 'what did master do afterward?'

'I was lost, I had nowhere to go. It was my first time seeing such destruction, I didn't know people were capable of such power and I was curious, captivated by it. I mean, I've read about it in the books but to actually witness the event is completely different to what I perceived it to be. Again, the destruction opened up various possibilities in my mind and I didn't give up hope. I looked through all the debris in the hopes of finding something, anything, because I couldn't bring myself to leave the place I grew up in. Not because I grew attached to the desolated shit hole but because I didn't know where any other places were, I was stuck there and I admit, too scared to venture out into the unknown. The only thing I had was the sword I saved from the fire.'

'I did find one video, but no device to play it, however I decided to keep it with me anyways in case it contained something important. After looking through every corner and fishing whatever I could find, I settled down again and built a small shelter near my old house. For a week or so, I spent my days making use of the objects I found. However when I came back one day from my food trip, my shelter was ruined again.'

'Grid hunters?' Commented Xanxus.

'Voi, yeah. I was fucking angry, I spent so long recovering only to have them destroy everything once more to build some shitty farm of theirs. This time, I was more prepared to face them and I let my anger take over.'

'Aw, master Squ…how many did you kill?'

'Only two of them, B-classes, it was my first experience in an actual fight. It was exhilarating, breathtaking… after that incident I was obsessed and I grew attached to fighting. I wanted to experience more of that thrill running through my veins when I cut them down…so I decided then, to find their source. Find a place where I can have more opponents. I read their IDs and saw that they belonged to an organization called Grid, I wasn't interested in Grid but what caught my attention was the fact that they were from the high district.'

'So master didn't join Grid straight away?'

'Nah, I wasn't interested in who they worked for yet. Back then, I had the impression that all the powerful fighters were from the high district so I decided to follow the map I found on them to the area. The map also showed the various peasant villages and noble farms scattered around the path I drew so I didn't have to worry about running out of provisions or anything. I began my journey straight away.'

'It took me a month to get to the edge of the higher district on foot and during the journey for the first time ever I saw actual peasant villages, ones filled with people. Even though they were the same as me, I still felt isolated and detached from them, I don't know why. Maybe it's just my nature because I hardly connect with anyone even now. I tried finding Zenos to steal in those towns but there was barely any, the most I ever found at a time were a few Zeen and that's it.'

'Master, how _could_ you steal from poor peasants?' Cried Lussuria.

'Shut up, I had no other choice. I was confused too when I realized how poor the lower district was, it contradicted what I read in the books. Whoever wrote them said that the lower district was slightly below the higher, being inferior only by small aspects which meant the residents there should at least have a steady source of Zenos. Sure the lower district had up-to-date technology but the difference in wealth was colossal.'

'You mean the _nobles_ who wrote those books lied…' said Xanxus, eyes gleaming.

'That's right, after robbing about five different villages and finding the same meager sum, I realized the stuff I read in books might not be exactly valid…'

'Of course not, haven't you heard the saying '_history is written by the winners_'?' Xanxus snarled, 'whatever shit you learnt from the books is biased and false, mostly fabrication made up by the noble-blooded scum.'

'VOI, I don't need you to tell me that now,' Squalo snapped back, 'just listen to my story.'

The scarred man quieted down and the shark continued.

'When I reached the higher district I had about one Zenos worth of Zeen, not enough to buy anything there. I explored the place, expecting to find competent opponents and was sorely disappointed when the nobles weren't interested in combat. They all seemed to be supportive of Grid, something that bothered me. After all the shit that happened to me, I've come to detest anything associated with that organization but it turned out all the residents in the high district worshiped them like gods.'

'Disgusted and frustrated, I left to a nearby peasant village as the nobles wouldn't let me reside in their own land. At that village, I managed to buy a house with the money I collected and that's where I lived before I could afford this one. By then, I could freely talk and communicate with other people.'

Squalo paused for a breath while the other three were eager to hear more.

'You won't understand the disappointment that I felt then, the miraculous vision I had of the high district was shattered to pieces and I was left with emptiness. Just emptiness. For weeks have I been dreaming of being able to fight again, but now that dream seemed much further away. Then…I remembered the Grid hunters.'

'Is that when you joined the Grid hunters?'

'Not yet, shut up and listen. When I thought about the Grid hunters, I realized that there _were_ strong opponents in the high district. I had no intention of joining them however, I just wanted to fight them. So the next day, I went back to the high district with the objective of attracting their attention. I stole from nobles publicly since it was the most obvious way.'

'Master Squ! That's sooo dangerous, any grid hunter could have come. Even an S-class, they would have killed you without hassle.'

'Pfft, yeah I know but back then you should know, I had nothing to live for. I'd rather have died than gone back to my previous lonely life, I had long decided that I would live a life of fighting and nothing else. My wish was granted, I had a bunch of hunters tailing me and I knew I couldn't fight them all at once.' Squalo gave a harsh laugh.

'I was beaten to the brink of death, but I didn't go without a fight. I managed to kill a few of them before they rendered me unconscious. The funny thing was I was still alive, they thought they killed me but I was alive. Alive and happy, no…_overjoyed_. I didn't care about the severe injuries I received from my recklessness, I was happier than I've ever felt, the joy of fighting, the joy of being in combat was coursing through my veins as I headed back home that day.'

The shark gave a wide grin which was contrasted with the expression of horror on Lussuria's face.

'I remember the moment so clearly, my dream was finally coming true, I had found a reason to keep on living. My injuries didn't take long to heal thanks to the technology in the peasant village and a few days later I went back for more. Every time I challenged them I was always put to the state of near-death, every time I made a full recovery I grew stronger than I was before. Before long I was taking more and more of them down, the rate at which my skills improved even shocked me a little. When I got strong enough, I hunted down the scum who first beat me up when I was a kid, and I...slaughtered them.'

'Master, how come the Grid hunters never killed you?' Asked Fran.

'Voi, they did. Well, at least they thought they did. I don't know how I kept surviving…'

'That's kind of risky,' Fran added, 'what if one of them actually delivered a serious blow? Like they could have cut your head off to make sure you were dead.'

'Heh I know, I was lucky they never did anything like that. The me back then was playing a game of life and death, I didn't care if I could have died. The strong survive, the weak perish, in order to keep on living and fighting I had to be stronger than those around me. I grew to that idea and I kept on cheating death.'

When Squalo saw that Fran had other questions, he quickly brushed him away.

'Ask me your shitty questions later, let me finish this. I stole heaps of Zenos from careless nobles during the times when I wasn't fighting, I gathered a lot and bought a shit load of high tech items, I even afforded a hovercar. Sometimes I would have heaps of Zenos at my disposal, other times I would nearly starve to death. Soon I started to save my Zenos for a house in the high district, I calculated the amount I needed and I tried to steal a bit every day during my fights.'

'When I was in the mood one time, I decided to watch the video I saved from the fire. It was some shitty movie that the peasants made about some fucked up hero-guy who saved them from a Grid attack. After watching it, I decided to grow my hair instead of cutting it. The guy in the movie cut off his hair before he was executed and told the peasants to keep his hair as a symbol for the stuff he did, I thought that was a good idea…keeping memories and experiences into one's hair…'

Squalo gave a faint blush at the amused looks on his servants' faces and at the intense gaze Xanxus gave him.

'…does that explain your hair?' The scarred man asked, light merriment in his voice.

'Hn…shut up,' said Squalo timidly, color refusing to leave his face. Lussuria brushed away fake tears from his eyes.

'Master Squ, I didn't know you had that side to you,' he remarked, 'that's so sweet.'

'Whatever. Anyways, I used to cut my hair when it got too long since it got in the way, but ever since I saw that movie, you guys probably guessed already, I kept it growing. It was a personal thing…hm mm…'

'Nothing significant happened after that, I kept up this lifestyle for about two years before things started to change. For one, as I got stronger I attracted more attention from Grid and they no longer ignored me like they did before. One day, they sent an S-class after me during my visit to the high district. We fought and I killed him with some effort, that was the last straw for the Grid hunters. I was arrested this time when they sent the other S-classes after me and instead of executing me, they made me an offer.'

'I had to work for them if I wanted a pardon from my previous crimes, at first I automatically thought of refusing but after contemplating for a while I accepted. I joined the Grid hunters as an S-class when I was seventeen. I admit even though I hated Grid for what they did to me previously, being an S-class provided a bunch of opportunities I've never even dreamed of. I continued to do my job, they paid me well which was a bonus and before I knew it I settled down in this house and bought you guys…and yeah.'

He finished lamely, watching the reactions from his listeners. Lussuria and Fran looked at him in wonder as if they now saw him in a different light after hearing his past, Xanxus on the other hand looked disappointed.

'So you work for them because they _forced_ you to…scum,' Xanxus hissed.

'Voi, forced? They didn't force me, I chose to!' Squalo retorted.

'Even after what they did to you, you continued to let them use you...' the scarred man accused, 'you don't cease to serve them even after the pain you suffered under their hand.'

'What did you say?'

'I'm saying,' his tone changed completely, 'that you're a coward, you allow yourself to be humiliated just to _fit in _with the rest of the noble trashes.'

Squalo felt unimaginable rage boil up at Xanxus' words. The mood in the room darkened considerably, Fran and Lussuria melted into the shadows and only Xanxus had Squalo's attention. Only the raven had the nerve to make him _this_ angry. He struggled to keep his voice calm, hiding the hidden wrath that threatened to incinerate his insides.

'You think I give a shit whether the nobles respect me or not? All that matters to me is _strength_, I don't care what I go through in order to obtain that _strength_. Working for Grid has allowed me to become stronger, I live to fight, to test how far my ability lies compared to the scum around me. Grid provided me with what I wanted, I'll fucking deal with anything they throw at me as long as they keep satisfying me, that's why I work for them.'

'So you only care about your _own_ strength…'

The two men glared at each other, for a fleeting moment Squalo's silver eyes burned with equal intensity as Xanxus' ruby ones.

'Try living the life I had,' Squalo said finally, 'being beaten down and overcome every time I had the impression I was succeeding. The whole time, I've been ruled over by those who are deemed more powerful by default. I've been abused to the point of death all because I wasn't strong enough to prevent it. Try experiencing the things I have, and then tell me what's more important than the extent of my own power.'

Looking at Xanxus' eyes again, Squalo thought he saw…it couldn't be… _understanding_ in those intense red orbs. Sighing, the shark stood up ready to retire for the night.

'Why don't you work for Vongola?' Asked Xanxus suddenly, causing Squalo to halt in his steps. The swordsman detected an ounce of tenderness and remorse in the husky voice. He didn't dare hope that Xanxus was actually _sorry_ for his previous remarks.

'Why should I give up all that I've achieved for some organization I have no idea about…' he answered abruptly without looking back.

'The Vongola can provide you with what you want,' the scarred man offered.

'You misunderstand me,' remarked Squalo still with his back toward the man, 'I've given up everything to have what I have now, how do I know Vongola will do any better than Grid? I've worked so hard to maintain my position; I don't want to take the gamble if it means I could end up back where I started. How do I know how powerful the Vongola really is?'

'If Grid and Vongola fight,' Xanxus said, tone condensed with authority, the same tone he used during Squalo's promise. 'Vongola will be the victor, I assure you that.'

The swordsman gave an audible 'tch' as he left, pretending not to care what Xanxus said. He was angry at the raven for his hurtful insults and Xanxus knowing that, did not speak anymore. For the first time since his arrival, Squalo did not want Xanxus' company.

~x.x.x.x~

The next day Squalo left for work early, still angry at the raven for the events yesterday. What Xanxus said to him was a piercing blow to his pride and no matter how _sorry_ the raven sounded, Squalo wasn't going to forgive him that easily.

Maneuvering through the air and around buildings, Squalo paid little attention to anything around him, only thinking of the scarred man's words which were uttered to him. _Coward…used_…Squalo felt a small fire of anger light up again as the words replayed themselves over and over in his mind, why did he even care what the stupid man thought of him? It confused him greatly because he knew it was more than just due to his respect for the Vongola elite.

When he stormed into the entrance hall today, the swordsman didn't notice the lack of greeting from his colleagues and when two A-classes approached him, he was too late to react when handcuffs were locked around his wrists.

'VOI! What the fuck are you doing?' He yelled, attempting to break free of his restraints. He felt a wave of satisfaction as he saw the looks of fear on their faces but was disappointed when they refused to unlock the handcuffs. Squalo felt frustrated when he realized his hands were bound behind him, rendering any attempts he had to fight useless.

'G-general Squalo, we were ord-'

'So there you are Superbi…' Squalo's head snapped around to see Taros walking calmly toward him, a malicious gleam in his eye but detectable rage behind them.

'Taros, you ordered this shit?' Squalo spat at the Grid hunter leader.

Taros didn't answer him, instead he motioned for Squalo to follow him across the hallway. Squalo, seething with anger complied, eager to know he reason behind the sudden actions taken against him.

'I'm disappointed in you Superbi…' Taros commented.

'The fuck do you mean?' The swordsman asked, pacing fast to catch up to his boss. Taros paused and looked at him in disgust before he spoke.

'You don't have the right to question me anymore, so you should remain silent unless you want me to punish you accordingly.'

Squalo had never heard him sound this angry before, he didn't know what could have gone wrong. His first guess was that Vongola had launched another attack and killed more Grid hunters but then, why would he be subject to blame? Biting back the retort he was about to utter, he silently followed the other man into a large hall.

To his surprise, the hall was filled with many nobles robed in deep red sitting around an empty space in the middle, amphitheater style. Sitting on the throne in the middle and directly in front of a metal seat situated in the space was the Axel. Squalo was more confused than ever, he thought the gathering looked like…a trial. _Shit_, he thought as his blood froze, realizing who the defendant was going to be.

Panic swelled up in his chest as his mind was spinning with thoughts. Should he make a run for it? _No_, he thought, _I still have a chance, they don't…they can't have any evidence_. It couldn't have been because of his smuggling of Xanxus, otherwise he'd have been arrested long ago, he desperately tried to convince himself. He cursed and berated himself for being letting his guard down and allowing himself to be handcuffed.

Vulnerable but determined to defend himself whenever necessary, Squalo allowed himself to be lead to the wooden seat in the middle. As soon as he sat down, two metal straps closed in around his ankles, disabling any intent to escape. He saw Taros take a seat next to the Axel, expression impassive. A blue robed noble standing on the other side of the ruler spoke, voice magnified by the device pinned to his garment.

'Superbi Squalo, S-class grid hunter, residing in number 73 of Sector A12, peasant blood…' the man paused, lip quirking in distaste, 'you are charged with treason and accused of being a spy for Vongola.'

_Spy for Vongola?_ Squalo decided that he would remain silent unless he was forced to speak, in case he accidentally let anything slip.

'Why?' He asked, surprised at how calm his voice was despite his interior shaking. The judge ignored him and continued.

'If found guilty, we have the right to sentence you to execution or any other punishment we see suitable for your crime. Even though you are an S-class grid hunter, because of your peasant blood status it is within our power to kill you on the spot so I advise you not to make any rash movements.'

Squalo nodded, putting on his best facade of confusion.

'I'll now switch to General Taros to question the defendant.'

Taros stood up from his seat and walked down to where Squalo was sitting.

'Superbi, when I asked you to take care of that Vongola bastard…what did you do?' His eyes shone menacingly, his voice rang out across the room for all to hear. A slave ran down to attach a voice magnifier onto Squalo's jacket, allowing his answer to achieve the same.

'I killed him, like you told me to,' Squalo replied. He thought it was best to play along with the lie he thought of initially.

'Your grandness,' the address was direct at none other than the Axel, 'and all others in this room, around one month ago you might remember the attack Vongola launched on our west tower.'

His statement was responded with nods across the crowd, the Axel tilted his head slightly of approval.

'Grid lost over a hundred men in the assault, but I was able to capture one of their elite members. The one responsible for the attack. His name is unknown but after rendering him to a pathetic state, I ordered Superbi to take care of him. He's the second in command after all, I thought he had the right to have a fair share in punishing the scum.'

More nods of approval.

'Now let me ask you again _Superbi_, what did you do with him?'

'I killed him,' Squalo repeated. As long as Taros did not have any evidence, all was well. He might be able to get away with this.

'Really?'

'Do you want me to go into the details of how I did it?' Squalo asked, suppressing the hatred in his words.

'That won't be necessary,' Taros growled, 'because I have the impression that you didn't kill him.'

'What makes you think that?'

Taros ignored him and addressed the Axel again.

'Your grandness, when I was talking with another S-class the day after the incident, he said something that interested me slightly. His name is Mateo Pritell, Number 3 of Sector F1. At the time he was complaining to me about his lack of involvement in the fate of the Vongola scum but he mentioned something for a split second that caught my attention.'

Taros gestured kindly to the Axel who replied 'please continue'.

'Mateo said that he saw blood on the front seat of your hovercar, Superbi…'

Squalo's heart skipped a beat and renewed panic bubbled inside his stomach.

'He just mentioned it offhandedly when he told me how he talked to you earlier in the day but that statement caught my attention greatly. Mateo is one of my most trusted men in this squad, I have the highest faith in his words, I don't think he was lying. Now isn't it strange that Superbi would have blood on his driver's seat the day after he was ordered to execute the man?'

He turned to Squalo with a slight air of triumph.

'Can you explain where that blood came from?'

Squalo paused, steadying his voice before thinking of his reply carefully.

'If you saw the state of that guy when I dealt with him you would know, thanks to your whip he was covered in blood when I killed him and that blood got all over my clothes,' Squalo answered steadily but confidently, 'when I drove home that day of course the blood would get onto my car seat. I didn't have the chance to clean it properly yet, that's why Mateo saw.'

Squalo thought his answer was reasonable and from the nods on the nobles' faces they thought so too. He sighed inwardly in relief but cursed also, because he had forgotten how clever Taros was when he wanted to be. The man was his rival for a reason, his mental and physical capability far exceeds that of a normal man.

'Hmm, fine. But you are mistaken if you think _that_ is my only reason for calling you here,' Taros looked evidently disappointed but something in the man's eyes told Squalo that he was confident of victory, the swordsman shivered and braced himself for what's to come.

'Your grandness, I would like you to be aware of one fact before we continue this discussion further. Two days after I ordered Superbi, one of the cleaners of the Vongola scum's cell also had some interesting things to tell me. They found a couple of sandwiches and a water bottle in the cell which I thought was strange because I told them specifically not to feed or interact with the scum in any way…'

The Axel looked slightly impatient and interrupted.

'Taros, you've told me about this before and I let you execute them for disobeying you. Move on.'

Taros looked flustered at the interruption but gathered his confident air again before continuing.

'My apologies, I'll proceed with the other observations I made. Let me enlighten you all with some of my own experiences.'

Taros cleared his throat whilst Squalo braced to listen carefully, thinking hard on any way he could avoid punishment. His anger at Xanxus had long evaporated, right now he didn't care what it took to convince the Axel that he was innocent.

'When I first arrested the Vongola scum, I took the pair of guns he was carrying for my own use, as spoils of my victory. Superbi, do you remember the mission for Lord Cameo when we were paired up?'

Squalo nodded, feeling it was best to tell the truth if it didn't involve his rebellious actions. Besides, a normal person would not forget something that easily so it would certainly be suspicious if he pretended he forgot.

'Good, during that very mission I decided to test the weapons out but to my disappointment they were faulty. I threw them away as they became a burden whilst I was slaughtering those dirty peasants, more out of annoyance than anything. Superbi and I were separated at some point, it took me around an hour to complete my part and when Superbi was still busy I decided to check the spot where I threw away those guns…'

Squalo's insides clenched. He remembered it clearly too, at the time he was no doubt examining the swords in the weapon store.

'They were missing, gone. I looked carefully around the area but I failed to find them.' He looked at Squalo this time, 'Superbi, did you take them?'

Squalo thought hard, deciding whether he was going to lie this time. If he confirmed that he did take them, it wasn't enough evidence to render him guilty but then Taros would definitely ask for those guns back. Xanxus certainly would not return them, hence causing more trouble for Squalo.

'No, why would I have use for those guns? You saw me with the sword I got,' he replied. It was easier to lie, he concluded, and pretend that a running peasant took them.

'Then how do you explain –'

'A peasant probably took them when they had the chance,' Squalo cut in before Taros could finish, 'remember you let a few escape, anyone could have taken it and disappeared. Those guns looked pretty valuable.'

Taros snarled when Squalo mentioned the mistake but recovered quickly.

'Your grandness, what do you say to this?'

'I think this peasant has a point, Cameo has told me about the brilliant job you did on your mission. Anything left behind in the village would now be completely destroyed, the farm is running well.'

Squalo held back a sigh of relief and even ignored the fact that he was referred to as 'this peasant'. The axel had the final decision on his fate, whether he was guilty or not and if he thought that Squalo had a fair point, it would be advantageous for the swordsman.

'Hm, very well,' commented Taros, 'allow me to provide you my last piece of evidence.' He took out a remote and switched on the video player on the ceiling. A large upside down hemisphere dangled down slowly, a three dimensional image being projected out of its opening.

A video began playing, Squalo could hear his own heart thrashing about his ribcage but hid his anticipation well. The shark almost jumped in surprise as he saw himself in the video, and dread filled his being to the brim as he recognized Xanxus' figure too.

_What the fuck_, his mind was racing as he watched himself drag Xanxus slowly out of the prison cell, revealing his darkest secret for the most dangerous eyes to see. Hopelessness overwhelmed him, he was confused. He definitely switched off all the cameras before he underwent his plan, so how did Taros get that video? Gasps of shock and outrage were heard from the crowd, nobles were mumbling to their neighbors as the video replayed.

Squalo felt oddly calm in his situation; perhaps it was the knowledge that only death awaited him. Nothing he said or did mattered anymore, the video was the living proof that he had indeed disobeyed Taros' orders and saved Xanxus, there was simply no way he could argue out of the truth. Overcoming the sick feeling inside him, he closed his eyes and bowed his head, refusing the look at the expressions of the nobles around him.

They would sentence him to be executed, they might even kill him now after all, what other reason do they need? He had helped a dangerous enemy, he'd be lucky if they didn't torture him before he was axed. He would fight back of course, but he didn't stand a chance against all the grid hunters, death was inevitable.

He noticed the blood red robes that nobles were wearing and thought immediately of Xanxus, and of Lussuria and Fran. They won't know what happened until it was too late and he was past the point of life, even if they knew now there was nothing they could do about it. Squalo felt an immense amount of regret as he awaited his impending doom, he wanted to see Xanxus again. There was so much he could have done, he had taken the man's presence for granted all these weeks. Squalo wanted to fight him again, to talk to him…to look at him and…the _kiss_.

Why was he suddenly missing the scarred man so dearly?

Taros paused the video when he saw that the damage was done. Nobody was paying the tape anymore attention, they were all talking frantically amongst themselves. The axel looked furious, silent rage radiating off his figure.

'Gentlemen, your grandness, you have witnessed the solid evidence of my assertions. This tape was filmed by the cell cameras that only I, the grid hunter leader have access to. No one else, not even you your highness know that these hidden cameras exist, they are kept top secret in the hopes of revealing what I have revealed to you right now.'

The room rang with applause, even the Axel gave a few claps of his own. When the room quietened down, Taros spoke again with unmistakable triumph.

'Your grandness, I'll let you decide a suitable punishment for this scum.' He spat in Squalo's direction.

The swordsman didn't have any means of escape, his hands were bound tightly and so were his legs. Quietly, he waited for the Axel's decision, preparing himself for the worst.

'Superbi Squalo,' the ruler's voice rang with authority, but compared to Xanxus' usual commanding tone it was as if a child was speaking to him, 'you are guilty of helping a Vongola elite, you have betrayed Grid and as punishment, I mark you as merchandise for our upcoming auction in a week. Until then, you will be locked up tightly in the cells of the main building with thirty lashings everyday.'

The surrounding nobles roared in approval but Squalo could see a trace of disappointment on Taros' face. Clearly, a mere thirty lashings from the laser whip wasn't enough for him.

'This trial is over, you are all dismissed. Taros, take care of him but make sure to _keep him alive_. I'm afraid he will die if we give more than thirty lashings.'

With that, the Axel left. Taros, snarling grabbed Squalo by the hair and yanked. With no intention of struggle, Squalo obediently followed the captain to his jail cell. He'd be stupid to try and outrun Taros while his hands were bound, he'll conserve his strength until a good opportunity comes instead. They walked along all the cells until Taros halted at...cell R24, again. The cell that Xanxus was held captive, now used for him.

Taros threw Squalo inside, leaving the door open so a block of light lit up the darkness.

'Where is that Vongola bastard?' He snarled, hand over Squalo's throat.

_So he doesn't know where Xanxus is_…Squalo thought quickly.

'Gone.' The swordsman closed his eyes, in case they betrayed his fears. Again he didn't know why he was risking himself to save the raven. He didn't know why he was subjecting himself to Taros' wrath by lying, all for the sake of one man. All he knew that moment was that no matter what Taros did to him, he was never going to betray Xanxus, even if it meant going through rounds of every imaginable torture possible.

'Gone _where_?' Taros roared, delivering a hard punch to Squalo's jaw.

'Back to Vongola,' replied Squalo, coughing from the blood in his mouth.

Taros screamed in anger as he pulled out the laser whip and tore Squalo's shirt off. Without hesitating he struck the laser down onto the silver-haired man's back. The moment the laser made contact with his skin, Squalo felt indescribable pain and his mind went numb. A yell was slowly creeping its way to his throat but he fought back like Xanxus did, refusing to make a sound. After a few more lashings, Taros stopped and pulled out a short dagger, making his way to Squalo, he grabbed the long silver hair with his other hand.

'Your hair…is fucking annoying,' he spat and cut off with one clean stroke, the length of the swordsman's hair. Squalo gave a small, painful, inaudible moan as he felt a waft of wind on his now exposed back and neck. The long silver strands, detached from his body fell from Taros' fingers carelessly onto the ground. Satisfied with the flesh now untouched by the threads of hair, Taros continued to whip Squalo, enjoying the way the blood spurted with each lash.

On the receiving end, Squalo was growing dizzy with pain. He slumped with relief when Taros stopped on the thirtieth lash and walked out, slamming the prison door behind him.

Squalo had no idea how Xanxus managed five hours of the whip when he was at his breaking point after only ten minutes. The resilience and the strength behind the man never ceases to impress him, even now when forming a coherent thought seemed impossible, Squalo found himself thinking of the raven.

Lying on his front in the darkness, Squalo noticed that thirty lashes weren't enough for his skin to even bleed. The abused flesh felt raw and bruised, but he couldn't detect any blood flowing. The perfect device for torture…he thought, one that caused unbearable pain but put the victim in no great physical danger. For Xanxus to have such wounds from the whip, he must have taken hundreds of lashings, maybe even a thousand.

Squalo immediately regret his coldness toward the scarred man the previous night, now he probably wont see him again ever. Xanxus wouldn't even _think_ of rescuing him, that is if he found out at all. The act itself was too risky and even if he knew Squalo was locked up in the main building, the shark doubted that Xanxus cared about him enough to risk his life for him. That lead him to question why he, himself had risked and put everything on the line for that one man, if he had never saved him…and just killed him instead. How would things have turned out?

Squalo sighed, he didn't regret his actions one bit. He remembered his first experience fighting, the thrill he felt then. Xanxus gave him the same kind of thrill, he'll never get enough. No, he didn't regret anything.

~x.x.x.x~

The week passed excruciatingly slowly. Squalo wondered if Lussuria and Fran were worried about him, he hoped that they didn't plan anything rash like trying to rescue him _during_ the auction. That kind of act was practically suicide and Squalo didn't want to lose his only friends. The news of his capture has probably been announced already, of course his name wouldn't be revealed but his servants can easily work it out. He wondered how they were doing, was Xanxus still with them or has he gone back to Vongola already?

The only time he saw light was when Taros came to bring him food and whip him. The morsels he got barely kept him alive, the only time he remembers being this starved was during the periods he spent when he was young challenging the Grid hunters.

When the door to his cell opened on the day of the auction, it wasn't Taros who stood but two other S-classes, Mateo and the woman. They dragged him out without speaking or showing any sign that they once worked with him. Dried blood caked his back as he walked past the corridors where he used to work, his ex-colleagues following close behind him, alert in case he tried to escape.

Squalo couldn't even if he wanted to, so much for conserving his energy. The constant whipping along with the deprivation of food sapped all the strength from him, he could only follow orders obediently, silently planning his escape once he was purchased. His cropped hair grew a miniscule amount during his capture, the tips stuck out from the back of his head whilst his bangs almost covered his eyes. He hasn't had a chance to properly look at himself yet and he doubts he ever will soon.

They dumped him inside a hover truck, locking him in a cage like an animal. He saw the other victims handcuffed and bound in their own cages. He never dreamed that he would be in this position. Weak, pathetic and helpless. Everything that he had strived to avoid.

His cage was carried by a few B-classes when they arrived at the auction house, he was put to the room at the back along with the other merchandise, waiting to be displayed. He wondered if Lussuria, Fran and Xanxus (if he hadn't left already) were watching on television. He grimaced as he pictured their horrified expressions and hoped they would continue on without him.

He heard the speaker announce each product, the various bids that were placed on those products and the final selling price. When it was his turn, two B-ranks lead him from the room and onto a large circular stage in the middle of the auction hall. He could feel a million eyes on him, scrutinizing every aspect of him as if he were a particularly exotic piece of merchandise. As he kneeled in the spotlight he spotted a pair of familiar blue eyes in the crowd.

The blonde haired whip yielding youth was sitting in one of the front seats a few metres from Squalo. Their eyes met and for a fraction of a second, Squalo saw a sign of recognition on the man's face but it quickly disappeared and the blonde averted his eyes. The swordsman also noticed a slight shimmer in air at the back corner of the room, the sensation was oddly familiar and he tried to remember what it was. The shimmering blur disappeared almost immediately but he continued to stare at the spot expecting it to come back again except it didn't.

'This next item is a peasant who used to be part of the Grid hunting squad as an S-class,' said the announcer,' as you can see, he is reasonably well built,' the noble pointed to Squalo's exposed torso, 'and will make a good slave, physical or sexual.'

The announcer didn't need to finish, an outburst of interested whisperings broke out at the mention that Squalo was an ex-grid hunter.

'One million Zenos,' came a voice.

'Two million.'

Squalo bowed his head in shame as he listened to the prices they put on him. Anger bubbled at the pit of his soul but all it did was strengthen the hopelessness he felt. They were valuing him, relating him with mere _numbers_.

'Ten million…'

'Fifteen…'

Squalo tried to observe each of the nobles who were bidding on him, knowing that they may potentially be the person he'll be planning his escape from. When the bid rose up to a hundred million and no one else exceeded that, the announcer decided to accept.

'Sold, for a hundred million Zenos to customer number 312.'

Before Squalo could find his buyer, a loud crash was heard and a large fireball came into his view. The beam of condensed energy zoomed past his eyes and landed a few rows of seats from Squalo, incinerating every noble within a five metre radius. Squalo knelt there, heart beating as his mind went numb at the familiar rush of energy.

The blonde youth sitting near him jumped up suddenly yelling something that sounded like '…that flame…' but Squalo paid him no attention. The announcer screamed as part of the stage was blown into pieces and ran. Many other areas were lit up and destroyed by similar balls of flame, nobles were screaming and running out of the auction hall, desperate to escape, the auction was forgotten completely.

Squalo experienced a mixture of emotions as he felt the chilling aura he thought he'd never feel again.

'Get up you pathetic scum,' commanded a voice behind him.

Before Squalo could reply or even look at the man he wanted to see for so long, he was interrupted by the remaining noble.

'Xanxus?'

Squalo turned toward the blonde whip holder as he rushed towards them, face contorted with shock and disbelief.

'Holy shit, is that really you Xanxus?' He exclaimed.

Confused, Squalo looked from the raven and back to the blonde. Xanxus gave a small nod of acknowledgment at the stranger before turning his attention back to Squalo. The shark tried to say something, anything as the Vongola elite bent down and ripped his handcuffs apart but his voice wouldn't respond so he could only watch, gaping like a fish out of water.

'Bucking horse…' Xanxus commented, throwing away the scraps of metal that he tore off seconds ago.

'W-what…how…I thought…' the whip holder seemed to be having the same struggle, trying to find the right words at the presence of Xanxus. He then realized what the raven was doing and found his voice again.

'Xanxus, he works for Grid –'

'Shut up,' was the scarred man's reply. The blonde stopped talking and looked at Squalo incredulously. The hall was empty save for them selves and near destroyed, thanks to the raven. Squalo jumped to his feet as he saw Fran and Lussuria running towards the stage but his feet wouldn't hold him properly and he stumbled down, crashing into the seats below him.

'Master Squalo!' Lussuria hurriedly helped Squalo back up whilst Fran was panting.

'Big scary man, they're sending S-classes over, we need to leave,' Fran told Xanxus. The raven grunted before addressing the blonde noble.

'Bucking horse, we're leaving to Vongola.' With that, Xanxus turned to Squalo and threw him something. Instinctively, the shark caught the object and realized it was the sword he acquired before. A sudden wave of energy washed over him when he gripped the handle, the energy was small but it allowed him to walk properly.

'Wait Xanxus, can you explain –'

'Later,' Xanxus interrupted, 'help this trash first.'

Hesitating, the noble went over to Squalo's group.

'Can you walk?' He asked.

Squalo nodded, causing the other to head towards the door.

'We're going to use my hovercar, I don't know what the heck is going on but I'm going to do what Xanxus says and ask questions later,' he told them whilst trying to catch up to the raven. The three peasants ran with him, confused at the notion of a noble helping them.

'I'm Dino by the way,' the blonde said without glancing back, 'I'll listen to your introductions when we get out of here.'

When they reached the outside, a few A-ranks were already gathered, looking bewildered when they caught sight of Xanxus but even more surprised when they saw Dino. The scarred man was running way ahead of them and disappeared around the corner.

'Shit, we need to kill them…' Dino mumbled, drawing his whip and cracking it with one swift motion toward the A-ranks. The grid hunters fell as if they were stuck by an invisible sword however Squalo thought he saw a faint glow of a horse that came out of the whip. Impressed by the attack, Squalo gathered his voice again.

'Voi, I'm…Squalo,' he said.

'I know, I saw you fight at the Axel's party that time,' grinned Dino but stopped when he saw the snarl on Squalo's face at the mention of the party.

'I'm Fran,' said Fran, 'the colorful one over there is Lussuria.' Dino nodded whilst running.

They were turning a corner when they saw many Grid cars zooming past above them. When they reached Dino's hovercar, Squalo gasped at the sight in front of him. The walls were splattered with blood, A and B-ranks lay dead around and a few metres away from the car, Xanxus stood towering over an injured and unconscious Taros.

The grid hunter captain was still breathing but lay face down in the mess, unable to get up. Squalo didn't have time to observe the injuries on the man before he was pulled into the hovercar, Fran, Lussuria and Dino following him inside. Dino sat in the driver's seat whilst Xanxus moved away from his prey and entered in the other front seat. Squalo and his two servants had the back. Without hesitating, the blonde took off into the sky.

The shark looked out the window and saw other A-classes gathering around Taros' body, some helping him up and others getting back into their hover cars ready for pursuit.

'Green haired trash, make an illusion,' commanded Xanxus. His tone was so demanding that Fran didn't dare disobey.

Gathering up his strength, Fran created a living replica of the hovercar whilst making the real one invisible. He then allowed the illusion to move in a different direction, successfully fooling the Grid hunter cars following them. At the sight of the shimmering air around Fran's illusion, a sudden realization dawned on the swordsman.

'Fran, your illusions…I saw them during the auction…right?' Asked Squalo, whispering due to tiredness.

'That's right Master, you looked over at the corner we were in…'

'When you did, I thought Franny's illusions weren't working!' Cooed Lussuria, 'but I'm so glad we managed to get you back master Squ, you can't imagine how worried we were when you didn't return home that day.'

Squalo couldn't help smiling a little at the sight of his servants. Before he could properly talk though, Dino cut in.

'Xanxus! Explain yourself! The whole Vongola thought you were dead all this time but now you…you appear out of nowhere … helping someone who used to be a grid hunter! What the hell were you doing this month if you weren't dead?' Dino sounded slightly annoyed but also happy at the notion of an alive Xanxus. 'Where were you? How did you survive? Why did you suddenly decide to appear now of all times? How come you never contacted the HQ if you survived the damn raid?'

He continued to bombard the raven with questions but none of them were answered.

'I'll explain to everyone when we get back,' Xanxus growled, 'call a meeting.'

Dino was about to utter a retort but held back, punching the car window.

'Damn, I hope none of those Grid hunters saw me,' he said.

'They couldn't have, I made sure to kill them all,' Xanxus assured. At this comment, Squalo suddenly remembered.

'Voii! Xanxus, why the fuck did you leave Taros alive? You could have killed him, saved you Vongola a shit load of trouble later,' Squalo asked, unable to comprehend the scarred man's actions; if Xanxus was able to defeat Taros that easily, then how hard was it to kill him? He like Dino, also had a million questions to ask the raven but he saved those for a time when they were alone.

'He's yours to defeat,' Xanxus replied abruptly.

Squalo felt as if a heavy wind blew and knocked all sense out of him as he remembered the promise they made. After his imprisonment in cell R24, that event seemed like years ago and Xanxus remembered when he had forgotten. All this time he never dared to believe that the raven had taken his words seriously, until now. He realized that the kiss they shared bestowed a deeper meaning than just an ordinary gesture of affection.

He leaned back onto the seat cushion, thoughts racing. Maybe Xanxus was right when he asserted Vongola's victory if they fought. After witnessing not only Xanxus' but also Dino's strength, he appreciated the potential this Vongola held, something that he never bothered to acknowledge before.

'VOI!' Squalo realized suddenly, 'you fucking idiots!' He addressed Lussuria and Fran.

'Why the hell did you rescue me? Don't you know how fucking dangerous it is during an auction? What if you died?' He yelled at his servants who –to his disappointment- weren't intimidated the least.

'D'aww, Franny you hear that? Master Squ cares about us,' Lussuria gave a faint blush before grinning at a flustered Squalo.

'Why the fuck would I care about you pieces of shit? I'm just saying you could have been captured and it was stupid of you to attempt this kind of thing…'

'We didn't have a choice, stupid master,' said Fran, 'the big scary guy made us do it.'

'What?' Squalo blinked.

'He ordered us, it was too frightening to disobey him so we had to listen,' the green haired boy told him.

Squalo shut up quickly as another wave of emotions hit him. This one made him strangely happy and he blushed furiously, pretending to be interested in the view outside. Did Xanxus actually _feel_ a bit of compassion for him? He didn't think the raven was capable of risking his own life for the sake of another person.

'I'm curious Xanxus, why did you decide to save Squalo?' Asked Dino, 'you never care about anyone, not even your own comrades in the Vongola…why him?'

The raven grunted, 'no reason' before closing his eyes. No one else said anything for the rest of the trip except Dino who was talking on his phone, arranging a meeting for when they arrived. He drove on and on before stopping at a noble's farm. When Squalo got out of the car, he looked around frantically trying to spot a large building or town that was the Vongola's headquarters. Xanxus stopped him and motioned for them to follow, leading them to a clump of trees in the middle of the land.

The air shimmered when they walked near the bush and Squalo knew immediately that it was an illusion. Somehow it was different, _stronger_ than Fran's which he was used to. A trapdoor appeared when they got close enough and the five people entered.

'Xanxus we need to go, they're already waiting for us…I haven't exactly told them about _you_ yet,' Dino said.

'Squalo, Lussuria, Fran you three can go…wherever you want. Someone will find you when the meeting is over but stay in the headquarters okay?'

Dino and Xanxus walked away, leaving the three to themselves.

'Vongola's headquarters! How exciiiiiting!' Clapped Lussuria and he skipped off before Squalo could stop him.

'What's master going to do?' Asked Fran, walking beside Squalo along the corridor.

'Hn, not sure,' the shark replied, what he really needed was a bed so he could sleep. Or maybe a healer to fix the aching wounds on his back. He had no idea where to find those right now, so he could only wait until the meeting was over and Xanxus to help him perhaps. When they reached a small circular area with comfortable sofas, coffee machines and other relaxation facilities, Squalo sat down, unable to walk any further. He was tired, thirsty and heavily food deprived, the energy that his sword gave him had long faded away and he was left with the same empty feeling that he felt before the auction.

'If master is going to relax, I'm going to explore the place,' Fran told him. Squalo nodded and slumped onto one of the sofas. As soon as Fran was out of sight, the swordsman felt suddenly alienated and vulnerable. He was in foreign territory by himself, no Xanxus, Lussuria or Fran to keep him company. He never said he was going to start fighting for Vongola but he doubts he has a choice now, the whole Grid hunting squad will probably be looking for him back in the high district. This was the only place he had.

His gaze drifted toward the white walls around him, he would never have guessed the Vongola headquarters were underground. It was clever, impossible for Grid to ever find them. He had heard the reports from the many searches they took but no one ever decided to look under the surface, it was simple but brilliant. He wasn't impressed for long however, the internal conflict he had a while ago returned.

_Do I really want to fight for Vongola?_ He asked himself. The true answer was no, he didn't want to be ruled over by strangers, it was like Grid all over again. He didn't know who had the right to his life, what kind of missions he would be getting and most importantly, what he would gain from joining. Had he worked that hard all his life just to be controlled and manipulated by people higher up than him? But, he realized, there _was_ someone who he wouldn't mind working for…

'Grid!' A Vongola rookie yelled as he caught sight of Squalo, 'help! There's a grid hunter here!'

Squalo didn't have the energy to tell him to shut up. Slowly he got to his feet, trying to convey to the youth that he was harmless.

'I'm not from Grid…' he murmured softly.

'Liar,' the youth backed away, 'I recognize you! You're one of the S-classes!'

Before Squalo could reply to that, a black haired boy wielding tonfas appeared at the doorway. He dived toward the swordsman, landing a direct hit with one of his tonfas onto Squalo's stomach. The shark coughed at the hit, no energy to defend himself as the brunette struck him on the legs this time, removing his footing.

'Intruders need to be locked up,' he said calmly, 'I'm going to bite you to death if you resist.'

'W-wait! I don't fucking work for Grid anymore,' Squalo stuttered, getting back to his feet. The boy ignored him and pushed him roughly out of the room. The swordsman had no choice but to walk silently without complaint. The boy was leading him to one of the jail cells, Squalo reluctantly entered knowing he couldn't defend himself. The sword was left back in the other room but even if he had it, he doubt he could take on the boy at the physical state he was in. Besides, he didn't think resisting would improve his situation anyways.

Here he was, imprisoned again after being free for about an hour. The tonfa user glared at him, fox-like eyes slanted.

'How did you get in,' came the question. When Squalo didn't answer, the youth landed another hit to his face.

'Fuck dammit, one of you Vongola elites lead me here,' he answered hurriedly, massaging his face.

'Liar,' the boy hissed and lifted up his arm for another hit.

'I'm not lying! The blonde one with the whip, Dino…he showed me…' Squalo prepared himself for another hit and was surprised when it didn't come. The black haired boy paused at the mention of Dino's name.

'Dino…' he seemed to be in his own thoughts, '…that herbivore,' he brought his attention back to Squalo, 'we'll see about that, if you're lying then I'll kill you.'

The boy stormed out, locking the prison cell behind him. Squalo slumped down onto the cold metal floor, observing the new bruises he had received from the tonfa wielder. The boy didn't come back and Squalo sat there for hours, cold, hurting and hungry. He didn't blame the Vongola members for being so alert about intruders but it was extremely inconvenient for him, especially considering the state that he was in.

When he was about to lose hope of getting released at all, the prison door opened and Dino was standing at the entrance.

'Heh, you okay in there?' He asked, Squalo guessed that Xanxus told them everything hearing the respectable tone Dino used. 'Sorry about Kyouya, but we need to keep a tight watch for anyone suspicious you know.'

Squalo grunted, unable to get up until Dino walked in and helped him.

'The meeting finished ten minutes ago, Xanxus told us …well the truth is we actually guessed everything that happened. He never goes into details…' Dino laughed, 'I need to thank you for what you did though. Only the squad leaders and the important members at the meeting know, we've yet to spread the news…'

They walked out of the jail, Squalo barely standing on his feet.

'Xanxus wants to talk to you by the way. Come on, don't keep him waiting.'

The notion that Xanxus wanted a word with him gave him a bit of strength to keep up with the pace that Dino was walking at. The two men walked until the blonde stopped in what looked like a 'lounge room' area. Squalo spotted Xanxus leaning on the wall next to a metal statue, the area was quite empty with only a few people sitting around and talking.

'I need to go now, Tsuna wanted to see me,' Dino gave him a small pat and left.

Squalo gave a small nod and walked toward the looming figure in the corner. When he reached Xanxus, they stared at each other, Squalo's eyes heavy lidded with fatigue and Xanxus' burning with the same intensity as always. Squalo didn't know what to say, _thank you for saving me_? No, that would be meaningless, he wanted Xanxus to know how grateful he was for risking his life to prevent him from suffering a horrible fate but he couldn't find the right words.

Xanxus lifted his hand up to the back of Squalo's head, nesting it against the sharp newly carved spikes. Gently, too gentle for someone like Xanxus, he yanked Squalo's head up and looked deep into the silver orbs.

'You'll fight for Vongola?' He asked, not removing his grip on the silver locks.

'No.'

The raven gave a low growl at Squalo's answer, the shark could detect a faint trace of anger in the husky voice. At that very moment he suddenly felt the same passion as he did when he made the promise to defeat Taros, his mind was made up, even hell couldn't stop him.

'You're mistaken,' he explained when he noticed the tightened grip on his hair, 'I fight for you, Xanxus.'

-tbc-

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><p><strong>[AN]** - Okay, if you managed to read all five thousand words of Squalo's past without getting bored, I salute you. Sorry but it had to be there, I needed a backbone for the way Squalo is.

Hope you're enjoying this series, next chapter coming...no idea. Depends on how busy I am.

Reviews/Comments/Critique appreciated.


	5. In the New Environment

**[A/N] -  
><strong>This chapter took less time than I expected but trust me (and forgive me), the next one won't be coming in ages. Be prepared to wait a month or two but remember, however long I take with the chapters, this fic is not going to be discontinued. I planned the whole thing out before I even wrote the first chapter so even if I give up/lose inspiration/am too busy etc, expect the fic to be finished eventually. It's just a matter of waiting.

In the meantime, enjoy this chapter (because it'll have to last you til the next one).

**Reply to that anonymous review (**_Insert Generic Name Here ()**)**_ : No I didn't make a mistake, the laser whip breaks the skin on contact, but then the skin heals immediately after. So basically, when Taros was whipping Squalo, blood was spurting out when the whip broke Squalo's skin but then his skin heals itself afterward. Later Squalo comments on how only thirty lashings wasn't enough for his skin to break _permanently_. Sorry if I didn't make that clear enough but I'd prefer it if you made an account to leave the review so I could PM you this explanation instead of putting it here.

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 - In the New Environment<strong>

'You'll fight for me…' Xanxus tightened his grip on Squalo's short spiky hair. He didn't break their eye contact but the shark could definitely detect surprise in the rough voice and the intense gaze. After scrutinizing Squalo's eyes for any sign of deception –and finding none-, the raven loosened his grip, hand relaxed gently in Squalo's silver locks.

And there was also a hint of _thankfulness_ in the way Xanxus replied, as if he were grateful for Squalo's resolve. Squalo couldn't help smirking a little at the expression on Xanxus' face, if he wasn't mistaken Xanxus looked like he was actually _touched_ by his words. Upon seeing the smile on the swordsman's face, the scarred man turned away and gave a low growl.

'Are you sure?' He asked, not looking at Squalo.

'Why wouldn't I be?' The swordsman replied, turning Xanxus' head back with his hand. The scarred man paused and didn't answer but instead, gave Squalo a light pinch on the cheek.

'VOI, what the hell was that?' Yelled Squalo, blushing slightly at the playful gesture.

'You're so…interesting,' the Vongola elite commented lightheartedly, he gazed at the swordsman affectionately, sending shivers down the other's back.

_Interesting?_ Squalo gave a small tch before remembering how hungry he was.

'I'm fucking hungry,' he grumbled to the scarred man, 'where's the goddamn eating place?'

'Later,' Xanxus replied, 'heal your wounds first.'

The raven motioned for him to follow, walking out of the area. Ignoring the tight clench of his stomach, Squalo reluctantly trudged along behind him, cursing the man in his head. Did he not know how painful it was to go for a week without decent food?

'Why are you keeping me company anyways?' Squalo taunted, 'you probably have other matters to attend to now that you're back.'

'No reason.'

Squalo's insides danced happily despite his hunger and tiredness. Having Xanxus nearby made him feel secure in the new environment, walking beside the raven, he was no longer intimidated by his surroundings. Strangely, he trusted Xanxus and normally he would have berated himself for relying so much on one person but right now circumstances were different. However during the same thought, he wondered if he was also being a burden to the other man.

'Where are you taking me?'

'Medical area,' replied Xanxus abruptly.

Squalo guessed that Xanxus saw the whip marks on his exposed back, however bad it was though, it was nothing compared to what Xanxus received. Did the Vongola have equally up-to-date technology as Grid? If not, then there was no way to properly heal the scars on both their backs. The two men walked towards an elevator and traveled down deeper underground. Squalo could feel Xanxus' eyes on his back, examining his injuries but he didn't feel vulnerable anymore.

'What happened to your hair?' He asked suddenly.

'Taros cut it off when he was whipping me,' Squalo said in a low voice. He didn't want to talk about his hair, it left a sick bubbly feeling in his stomach.

'I liked it long…' Xanxus murmured, eying the haircut.

'Whatever,' Squalo snapped, he didn't want Xanxus to remind him of his previous hair. It was as if all his experiences before now are forgotten…as if they didn't exist. He was a completely new person now, in a new environment with a new lifestyle all of a sudden.

'Voi, I fucking hate this place,' Squalo growled, more to himself as they walked out of the elevator and through the corridor.

'Hn?'

Squalo decided to elaborate upon seeing Xanxus' questioning glance.

'I'm all fucking alone, stuck with a bunch of trashes who don't trust me, how do I know I'm truly forgiven for my actions with Grid?' he explained, 'I don't know what _they_ have planned for me and I'm just being lead by the nose like a sheep for slaughter. Especially when I'm by myself… I feel like there's going to be an attack on me any moment, I can never relax properly.'

'Stay with me then.' The message was uttered so softly that if Squalo didn't see Xanxus' lips moving he wouldn't have believed it was said.

'What?' Squalo thought he misheard.

'I said,' the raven sounded slightly impatient, 'if you feel uncomfortable by yourself then stick with me.'

Was this Xanxus' way of thanking him? Instead of feeling elated by the scarred man's offer, Squalo was somewhat offended. The Xanxus he knew before would not treat him this way, as if he were a weak being who could not fend for himself.

'Are you –'

'I'm not mocking you,' Xanxus interrupted as if he read Squalo's mind. 'I felt the same right after I was captured by Grid.'

Squalo forgot again, Xanxus' experiences in the main building. It must have been hellishly bad to prompt him to care for Squalo's well-being. He had never really asked the raven about his brief time spent with Grid, the shark made a mental note to do so later when he had the chance. The offense he felt earlier disappeared instantly and he resolved to not appear so weak again in front of the raven.

'Hm, I don't need your help,' Squalo commented, 'besides, for you it was slightly different because you knew that Grid wanted to kill you. Vongola should be different.'

He gave his signature wide grin which was not returned by the other. When the two men reached a large area with various white beds and smaller rooms, Xanxus motioned for a healer.

'Commander Xanxus?' The young female asked, pointing to one of the small rooms blocked by a solid metal door, 'your injuries –'

'Him first,' the raven interrupted abruptly, gesturing at Squalo.

The healer looked slightly taken back at the rudeness and hesitated when she recognized Squalo.

'But he's from…' she was silenced immediately by the fury burning in Xanxus' eyes. Reluctantly, she lead the swordsman into the tiny room. Squalo wasn't bothered by her attitude but the fact that Xanxus silently stood up for him left him a feeling of gratitude beyond words to describe. He didn't even notice the healer leaving into another smaller room inside. There was a mirror on one end of the tiny area and he realized that from the other side it must be clear glass so that the healer could observe him.

He looked at his reflection properly for the first time in days. For a second he thought it was someone else standing at the other end of the room, not realizing it was himself. His hair was unusually short but his fringe remained the same, hovering right above his silver eyes. He had the same hairstyle as he did when he was fourteen before he decided to grow his hair. His torso was bare and his pants were ripped in many places.

Before he could observe himself further though, a bright light switched on and the healer spoke.

'Umm…you should close your eyes,' she sounded as though talking to him were a crime, unsure whether to warn him or not.

Squalo complied, more because he didn't have a choice. The light was getting so bright he thought he would be permanently blinded if he didn't shield his eyes. Suddenly, he felt as if a heated metal slab was being dragged down his back and he jerked violently from the pain.

'Don't move!'

Squalo stopped moving and fought the numbing pain.

'It's a laser,' she explained, 'if you move I might not hit the right place.'

Squalo understood immediately. This type of technology was similar to those used by Grid, similar but not identical. Lasers were used frequently to heal wounded Grid hunters but visits must be taken often, especially for serious injuries. Plus, there was none of that pain.

After a minute or two, the lights were turned off and the healer told him to leave. When he was outside, Xanxus immediately followed, taking off his jacket and shirt revealing his scarred muscular body. The healer winced when she caught sight of Xanxus' gruesome whip marks and hurriedly went back in, closing the door behind them.

Squalo felt his own back and was shocked to find it smooth, smoother than his normal skin. Confused and surprised, he wondered where and how Vongola came to possess such updated technology that even those in the higher district did not have. To heal the wounds from a laser whip in a couple of minutes was unimaginably fast, too fast to be real. The pain was worth it, he thought, but he still couldn't understand how Grid didn't have the miraculous machine.

When Xanxus emerged from the room, his scars were also gone except for the darkened ones that covered various areas of his body, the ones that have always been there.

'How come you still have those scars?' Asked Squalo whilst the other man was dressing.

'Flames.'

Squalo didn't know what Xanxus meant by 'flames' but he didn't bother questioning further.

'Can I eat now?'

Xanxus grunted and walked out of the medical area, Squalo following him eagerly. He felt wide awake now, despite his previous fatigue, maybe because his wounds didn't ache anymore.

When they reached the eating area which was on one of the floors closer to the surface, it was already reasonably filled, leading Squalo to guess that it was around dinner time. People seemed to be sitting with their friends and team mates, chatting and eating at the same time. Many heads turned to the two men walking and the shark could hear frightened and confused whispers concerning him. Squalo couldn't spot Fran or Lussuria anywhere so he followed Xanxus to an area that was designated for different Squads. The raven was part of 'Varia', Squalo observed, there were four seats at the small rectangular table.

'Voi, I'm not part of this Varia…' Squalo said indignantly as Xanxus sat down in a throne-like seat.

'Nobody pays attention to the seating procedures,' the raven explained. Hesitantly, Squalo pulled a chair over next to Xanxus and sat down, looking at the menu the other was holding. Before he could read though, a high pitched man's voice interrupted.

'Master Squalo!' Lussuria came running toward the table wearing a black apron.

'Lussuria! VOI! Where the fuck… what the fuck are you wearing?' Exclaimed Squalo, causing many heads to turn his way.

'Master Squ! I heard you got locked up again and I was so worried! I bet Xanny saved you again right?' He smirked, giving Xanxus a wink which was ignored.

'What the hell?' Squalo said in disbelief, ignoring the protesting stares from the other Vongola members due to his loud voice.

'Ah, I found the kitchen after I left you and guess what? They let me help out!' Lussuria brimmed with glee.

Squalo opened his mouth stupidly and closed it again, apparently at a loss of words.

'What would Master like to eat?' He asked happily, giving a small bow.

'Uh…anything…' Squalo stuttered, stumbling back onto his seat trying to comprehend what had just happened.

'Fabulous~' Before Lussuria could skip away, Xanxus placed his order too.

'Scum, get me some steak,' he growled, throwing the menu away.

Lussuria nodded, dashing off to fulfill his orders leaving the two men alone again. Squalo's stomach ached with desire as he saw the food on the plates of the people surrounding him. However he didn't suffer for much longer, Lussuria returned in a couple of minutes with a few workers, carrying trays of food. Squalo thanked him and started to wolf down the roast meat and pasta in front of him. For a while no words were exchanged between the two men as they were eating.

A while later, two infants appeared and sat on Squalo's table facing him. The swordsman stopped eating to look at his new visitors, one had stunning blonde hair, blue eyes and wielded a large machine gun whilst the other had jet black hair. For a moment Squalo thought they were someone's kids that decided to come out and play during dinner but that idea disappeared when he noticed the weapons they held.

'You're Superbi Squalo right?' Asked the blonde one gruffly. Squalo almost burst out laughing at the weird sight in front of him. The baby's voice sounded much too old for his infant appearance. The shark nodded quickly, not stopping his eating.

'This idiot here is Reborn,' he pointed to the suited baby next to him, 'I'm Colonello, Kora, nice to meet you.'

The baby spoke in a 'down to business' way giving Squalo the impression that he was some kind of sink-or-swim trainer.

'Voi, why the heck do I care about your names?'

'Hey! Don't get cocky brat,' Colonello threatened, 'just because you helped Xanxus doesn't mean that we'll let you do whatever you want. I'll beat that arrogance out of you if I need to! Kora!'

Squalo was slightly taken back at the ferocity of the statement and also at the fact that an infant had just called him a cocky '_brat_'. Before he could utter his retort however, the other baby who was quiet all this time decided to speak.

'Don't test us…Superbi Squalo,' he warned.

There was something about the two infants that Squalo found strange but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

'What the heck are you babies?' He snarled, slightly intimidated by the stern aura radiating off the two individuals.

'Arcobaleno,' the black haired one replied.

'What –'

'We were given that name by the peasants in this city,' the one called Colonello interrupted, 'the nobles know us as the seven who opposed the first Axel Pohplear.'

Squalo almost choked on his pasta when he heard this. With immediate new-found interest in the two infants in front of him, he hastily pushed away the food. His full attention was now on Colonello and Reborn, hunger forgotten completely.

'Voi, you were part of those seven?' He exclaimed in disbelief.

'You know about us?' Reborn asked curiously.

'Hn,' Squalo grunted, 'I've read about you in books; you lot took on the first Axel together right? You won but then he cursed you before he died and now his son is in charge of the city.'

The shark then gave a harsh laugh after realizing what he was saying.

'You expect me to believe that shit? That you're two of those individuals?'

Colonello's brow twitched slightly from irritation but Reborn remained calm and explained properly, as if he didn't find Squalo's reaction offensive.

'Say what you want,' he remarked, 'but your alert posture tells me that you obviously suspect the truth in our words. Are you interested in hearing more?'

Squalo scowled and nodded reluctantly. Even if the infants weren't telling the truth, he was still interested in what they had to say about everything that was going on. Besides, he couldn't think of another logical explanation for their bizarre appearance. For most of his life he had been hearing things from the nobles' point of view, now was his chance to hear the other side of the story.

'Hah, do you fuck's trust me?' The swordsman mocked, 'the moment I got here I've had nothing but you Vongola people treating me like I still work for Grid. I'm surprised so many can tell that I used to be a Grid hunter…'

'Kora, that's out of the question,' Colonello declared, 'we trust you completely.'

'And to explain the hostile treatment you've been receiving, every single person in this organization is taught to recognize the six S-class Grid hunters,' Reborn explained, 'we've acquired photos of you and other data too, in case we encounter you on a mission. Most of our fighters are told to keep out of an S-class' sight at all costs, hence they are familiar with your face and who you are in case they run into you accidentally.'

Squalo was again shocked beyond words, both at Colonello's declaration of trust and the notion that Vongola has gathered information concerning him previously. No wonder he never ran into any Vongola soldiers during missions when a few A-classes did every now and then, no wonder everyone in these headquarters knew who he was.

'You doubt our faith in you…' Reborn commented, noticing the troubled expression on Squalo's face.

'Voi, what makes you trust me when most here don't?'

'Xanxus trusts you,' said Reborn, 'that's enough reason for us to do the same.'

Surprised, Squalo spared a quick glance at the raven who gave no indication that he heard his name. He was still ferociously devouring the meat on his plate with no specific interest in his surroundings.

'We don't know exactly what you did but you managed to win _his_ conviction,' Colonello told him, 'I'm impressed, that brat is one of the hardest people to get to and you were able to do it.'

'We are aware that you risked a lot to help him,' the black haired infant elaborated, 'but that alone is not enough to win his confidence. Xanxus only places his faith in a select few people and if you're one of the few then we have no reason to doubt you.'

Squalo nodded, hidden appreciation for Xanxus soaring inside him. The scarred man had indirectly helped him gain the trust of what happened to be the two leading members of Vongola, thereby saving him from potentially awkward situations with the other elites or unpleasant interrogation practices.

'So…' Squalo tried to remember where the conversation left off, 'if there are seven of you babies, where are the other five?'

'Dead,' said Colonello.

'Back then,' Reborn started, 'we, the seven of us challenged the first Axel. Just us…we didn't have an army like he did but our unique abilities managed to get his attention. Pohplear acknowledged us and gave us the chance to fight him seven on one in an official tournament.'

'Seven on one? That's no honorable way to fight,' commented Squalo but Reborn ignored him.

'We attended and fought against him. I wont say it was easy because of the seven of us, only four including Colonello and I possessed actual offensive combat abilities. It was hard, the battle lasted hours and many important nobles were watching. In the end, we managed to render him into a state of defeat and we made him an offer.'

'Instead of complying to our offer, he gave up his life to place a curse on us. We were transformed into this…' he gestured to his infant body, 'and for some reason also burdened with immortality. The worst part however was that our powers disappeared, we couldn't defend ourselves anymore. With his dying breath, Pohplear ordered his whole army of Grid hunters to dispose of us. At that time we could only flee whilst they pursued us.'

'Voi, what a strange curse…' Squalo thought aloud.

'Because we opposed the Axel, we automatically won the respect of the peasants. They helped us a little by providing a place for us to hide but by the time we reached them it was almost too late. Four of us were killed during the escape, the only survivors were Colonello, an illusionist named Mammon and me,' Reborn concluded.

Squalo wasn't impressed but he kept his thoughts to himself. He didn't like the way the Arcobaleno fought against the first Axel, not to mention the fact that they _fled_ from battle after realizing they were overwhelmed. Squalo never fled from a single fight when he was challenging the Grid hunters, despite whatever life-risking positions he was in he stood and challenged the odds.

'The three of us secretly formed the Vongola organization in the hopes of defeating Grid.'

'Why the heck would you want to challenge Grid in the first place?'

'Kora! Why can't you be patient and listen?' Colonello exclaimed in annoyance, 'we disagreed with the way Pohplear and Grid ran this city, because of them Tephire is isolated from the other cities on this continent. He cut off all connections with the others-'

'VOI, wait! What the fuck do you mean 'other cities'? Isn't Tephire –'

'No,' Reborn interrupted, 'Squalo have you ever wondered what is outside of Tephire city?'

'What the hell do you mean?'

'Do you know what the world is?'

'Voii, Tephire city is the world right?'

'Wrong!' Colonello smacked Squalo's head with a nearby chopstick, 'Tephire is a tiny little dot compared to the world -'

'What you need to understand,' interrupted Reborn, 'is that there are an infinite number of places outside these boundaries. There are over a thousand continents in the world, and on each continent there are millions and millions of cities. Tephire is only one of those cities.'

_Cities other than Tephire_? What kind of bullshit were they feeding him? Squalo sat in silence, trying to believe what Reborn and Colonello had just told him but found that he couldn't. He tried to imagine something outside of Tephire but his mind was blank, unable to form the appropriate images.

'The first Axel isolated Tephire city from the rest of the world. He built laser barriers around the area he deemed 'Tephire City' so that none could get in or escape, his son Pohlepa continues his legacy. Did you know that hidden in the heart of the Axel's palace in the high district is the switch to remove those lasers? That's our goal, we need to infiltrate his palace and remove those barriers and in order to do so we need to overthrow him. Destroy Grid.'

The swordsman nodded slowly, thinking hard after hearing Vongola's objectives. He still didn't believe that there were cities beyond Tephire. _Was this just a plan to trick him?_

'The hell are you saying! How did you lot get in then if the barrier existed?'

'The seven of us each possessed a different flame, with that power we were able to get past the barrier…'

'So you _Arcobaleno_ came from another city? Is that what you're saying? VOI! Prove it!'

'Kora! We can't give you solid proof but Vongola possesses a couple of more technologically advanced machines than this city has ever seen.'

Squalo hesitated, understanding suddenly where the miraculous laser healer came from. For once he actually saw a fraction of truth in what the two infants were telling him. Eager to further satisfy his curiosity, he bombarded them with more questions.

'What's this shit about flames then?'

'Hmm, it's a unique type of energy that appears when an individual has achieved a certain level of power,' explained Reborn, 'flames can be classified into types and there are seven: Sky, Storm, Rain, Sun, Lightning, Mist and Cloud. Each flame has its own strengths and weaknesses, almost everyone has a flame inside them but they need to have _strength_ in order for it to appear.'

'Voi! Does that mean I have a flame? How strong do I have to be?' Excitement flared rapidly inside Squalo upon hearing this new concept. This was what Xanxus was talking about earlier and this explained why he was able to produce those orange fireballs from his hands. Maybe this was the key for him to defeat Taros.

'You're already there brat,' Colonello grinned at Squalo's enthusiasm, 'your flame type is Rain like mine. It's appeared already, that's why I can sense it.'

'Huh? But I've never seen it!' Squalo yelled, unable to stop himself. He had never recalled producing the energy Xanxus did so what did the baby mean?

'Kora, you must have because it's there. I wouldn't be able to tell if it was still hidden inside you.' Colonello sounded equally confused.

'VOOI, you must be wrong then! I've never –'

'You have scum,' Xanxus spoke up glaring at the audience in front of him. His meal was still unfinished but it seemed that he was listening to every word of their conversation.

'Huh?' Squalo turned to the man next to him, astonished at the disturbance.

'When we were fighting,' snarled Xanxus evidently annoyed at Squalo's loud voice disrupting his meal, 'you cut through my flame with your blade.'

The shark stared at him blankly, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn't, Colonello explained.

'Hah, brat, if you managed to cut through Xanxus' flame of wrath then it could only be your rain flames, Kora,' Colonello said.

A sudden realization dawned on Squalo as he remembered the other details of the fight. His sword was glowing blue after he sliced through those fireballs, but at that time he was too taken in by surprise to properly think about that.

'The blade you used must have been special too,' commented Reborn as Xanxus resumed his eating, 'not all weapons can absorb flames.'

At the mention of his sword, Squalo suddenly jumped up from his seat.

'VOI! I forgot! I fucking left my sword –'

'Sit down maggot! Your sword can come later, for now you listen to us!' Colonello grabbed Squalo's arm and pulled him down with such force that the shark almost fell head first into Xanxus. The silver haired man grunted, wanting to punch the blonde haired infant.

'I don't get it,' he crossed his arms grumpily, 'if my flames have already appeared, then how come the other S-classes don't have them either?'

Reborn gave a small smile at Squalo's question.

'Flames are only present in _certain_ groups of people,' he explained, 'the group are known as peasants in this city. Frankly flames don't exist in what they refer to as _nobles, _the only exception I've ever seen is Dino but I'm almost certain that he has some peasant blood in him.'

'What the hell, so only those in Tephire city have flames?' Asked Squalo, confused as ever.

'You misunderstand,' Reborn replied, 'they are called _peasants_ in _this_ city, but the same group of people are widely present throughout the continent and in other places. We are treated equally in most cities, the distinction between the so-called nobles and peasants only exists in Tephire and rarely anywhere else. If anything, in a few other cities we are actually the ones ruling over the _nobles_.'

'Voi, wait so there are peasants and nobles in other places too?'

'Technically yes, but we don't call them _peasants_ or _nobles_, we're all regarded as the same -humans- but what you know as peasants each have a potential flame within them.'

Squalo had to remind himself that there were apparently other places too before he could start understanding what Reborn was saying.

'So…that healing machine in the lowest floor, you got it from another city? Even Grid doesn't have something that advanced.'

'Exactly, you're learning pretty quick brat,' Colonello answered, 'that advanced laser therapy technology is what we acquired from Glatina, the nearest city to Tephire. We brought it here a long time ago when the seven of us first entered this place.'

'Why is it all the way down on the bottom floor? Isn't that a bit inconvenient when you're trying to tend to those who are heavily injured?'

'True, but keep it mind that it's the most valuable piece of technology Vongola possesses, it gives us an immense advantage over Grid and we can't afford to lose it. If the Grid hunters happen to find our headquarters, they have to fight past all the floors in order to reach it.'

_Glatina_…Squalo had never even heard of that place but Colonello claimed it was the nearest city to Tephire. He wondered vaguely if there were powerful fighters there, that is if it actually existed.

'Voi…there must be some kind of drawback to that thing…'

'You're right again, maggot,' Colonello grinned, 'it uses a huge amount of energy each time and consequently we are constantly struggling financially. In order to keep that machine running we need a lot of Zenos and we've only got Dino as our sole financial supporter.'

When he heard this, Squalo reached inside his pocket to feel for his bank card. He smiled in delight as he found what he was looking for and threw it at the two babies.

'Here's my card, I've collected some Zenos in there,' he mumbled. Squalo wasn't sure why he was giving away all the cash he had saved up to this organization but he couldn't think of another use for the money. The amount of Zenos he had was irrelevant now; the nobles wouldn't let him buy a thing.

Reborn looked surprised but extremely pleased when he saw the card. Colonello even gave Squalo a small pat and a gasp of 'thanks'.

'Voi…is there anything else?' Squalo asked, noticing the long silence between them.

'Nothing important left except that Yamamoto will show you to your room later, it's number 16 on the 5th floor.'

'Who the fuck is Yamamoto?'

'That's all we have to say to you,' Reborn told him, 'we take our leave now.'

With that, the two Arcobaleno jumped off the dinner table and walked away, not bothering to answer Squalo's question. Confused and slightly irritated, Squalo resumed his eating for a period of time before a man with dark blue hair appeared out of thin air on the seat in front of him. The new visitor had shoulder length hair tied up into a spiked ponytail but what caught the shark's attention were his eyes. One was dark blue whilst the other was red.

'Xanxus…' He greeted the scarred man next to Squalo.

'Rokudo,' Xanxus gave a small tilt of his head whilst the stranger turned to the swordsman.

'You're Superbi Squalo,' he gave a bone-chilling smile, 'I'm interested in the little one you brought with you.'

'Huh?' Squalo blinked and stared at the strange eyes, did the strange man happen to mean Fran?

'He has potential and _I'm_ going to take him under my wing. I'm going to turn that potential into strength,' the blue haired man announced.

'What?' Squalo snapped, from what it sounded like, this stranger wanted to take Fran away. That wasn't going to happen soon, the young illusionist was _his_ servant and nobody else's.

'Who gave you goddamn permission?' He snarled.

'Kufufufu, whether you agree or not is none of my business,' the man was slowly disappearing as if a wind blew all the cells in his body apart, 'that little boy is my student now.'

Squalo was about to challenge the man to a fight but Xanxus placed a hand on his arm, holding him back. Reluctantly, he watched the blue-haired disappear completely whilst the air shimmered around him, Squalo then realized it must have been an illusion.

'Let him, it's better for the green haired trash,' Xanxus growled. Squalo thought for a moment before quietly agreeing, if the stranger could properly train Fran in combat then it was beneficial for him too. The young illusionist will always remain loyal to Squalo and the shark knew it so he didn't worry.

'Who the heck is he anyways?'

'Mukuro Rokudo.'

Squalo made a mental note to watch out for this 'Mukuro' later. He was going to question Xanxus further before a pair of green eyes at the other end of the room caught his attention.

'HEY!' He yelled, unable to help himself, 'Fran!'

Fran was standing next to another blonde boy with his back to Squalo. Upon hearing his master's voice he quickly broke away from the boy and ran toward the swordsman carrying something in his arms. When he got close enough, Squalo realized that the object was his sword.

'Master Squalo,' Fran said in his monotone, 'you left your sword back in the other room-'

'VOII! What the fuck are you wearing?' Squalo gaped at the gigantic frog hat on Fran's head, his sword forgotten for a moment. Before the boy could answer however, the blonde youth he was with a moment ago appeared by his side.

'Ushishishi, Levi they weren't lying. Boss is really here.' His bright yellow hair covered his eyes and he wore something that resembled a tiara upon his head. When he saw Xanxus, he quickly dashed towards the eating man, an enormous grin plastered on his face. Another man, a tall one this time appeared behind Fran.

'Boss!' He cried, voice shaking slightly. The two newcomers must be part of this 'Varia' squad for Squalo noticed that they called Xanxus boss. The raven gave a small grunt of recognition as he saw the two, ignoring the cries of joy that came out of the taller man. Squalo couldn't hear exactly what he was saying but he could make out certain words of deep admiration amongst the rest. The blonde one turned his attention back to Fran when he was satisfied with the fact that his 'boss' had indeed returned.

'Froggy, I'm not done with you yet,' he commented playfully.

'Ugh, master can I kill him?' Asked Fran timidly. Squalo thought that Fran actually sounded annoyed at the blonde haired boy. The illusionist rarely wanted to kill anyone but Squalo didn't doubt his abilities at all.

'Voi, don't kill anyone! Answer my question, what in shit's name is that thing on your head?'

'It's a frog hat obviously,' answered the blonde, 'it suits him.'

Squalo inwardly agreed, the hat did look good on Fran but he didn't voice his opinions. From the look of glee on the blonde's face, he guessed that it was the boy who put the hat on Fran in the first place, and his servant was thoroughly annoyed at it.

'Ushishi, by the way you're sitting on my seat,' the boy said, holding forth three delicately curved knives. His maniacal grin told Squalo that the statement was actually a warning.

'Find another one then,' he snarled back eyes gleaming with danger. He wasn't going to be intimidated by a kid who looked slightly older than Fran. Squalo expected the boy to utter back a retort or perhaps even throw one of his knives but to his surprise, the youth continued to grin widely and sat down on the spare seat opposite Squalo.

'Hmm, the prince doesn't need to deal with the likes of you,' he said pompously as he beckoned a maid over to place his order, 'if boss hasn't killed you for sitting here already, it means he wants you alive.'

'A-Are you a prince?' Squalo asked curiously. He had never heard of 'princes' existing in Tephire city, only Axels and their children.

'Don't listen to him master, he's a fake,' said Fran, trying without success to take the gigantic hat off. As quick as lightning, the blonde boy threw his three knives which embedded themselves onto the spots on the hat where Fran's fingers were seconds ago. Squalo heard Fran mutter to himself and could catch words like 'idiotic prince' and 'self proclaimed'. Knowing that Fran will be perfectly fine by himself with the somewhat insane boy, Squalo stood up preparing to retire.

'VOI, Xanxus! Who's this Yamamoto guy - '

'Scum, how dare you utter boss' name!' The tall man hovering beside Xanxus declared. Squalo eyed him apathetically and decided to take matters into his own hands when the raven was too busy eating to answer him.

'Which one of you scum is Yamamoto?' He shouted to the whole eating area causing immediate silence due to his extremely loud voice. He heard the blonde boy give a small 'Ushishishi' but Squalo ignored it, glaring around the room for anyone who answered. He spotted a black haired boy walking towards him.

'Voi, are you Yamamoto?' Squalo asked rudely, observing the harmless and air-headed expression on his face.

'Yeah,' he laughed, 'you must be Squalo! You didn't have to yell -'

'Show me my fucking room.'

The boy gave an even wider smile despite Squalo's rudeness and nodded, beckoning for the shark to follow.

'Sure. You're probably tired from everything today right?'

Squalo ignored him, he was considerably irritated by the boy's friendly manner. Taking his sword from the table, he left the dining area to follow the boy.

'You helped Xanxus,' he said looking at Squalo with evident respect and admiration, 'Tsuna told me, I think that's amazing, thank you for saving him.'

Flattery always seemed to work against the shark because now he felt torn between confirming Yamamoto's words proudly or claiming that he didn't need to be praised for the feat. Yamamoto had mentioned this 'Tsuna' again, Squalo wondered who he was.

'Are you a swordsman?' Asked Squalo suddenly when he saw the katana attached to Yamamoto's belt.

'That's right,' he grinned, 'my father taught me before he was killed by Grid.'

Squalo nodded, a new wave of respect rising for Yamamoto. He could sense some potential within the kid despite his harmless exterior, there was a killer lurking within. _Could he be the swordsman Xanxus was talking about? _

'Why do you fight?' If the kid _was_ the mentioned swordsman then Squalo was confident that he could defeat him like Xanxus said. Judging from the aura he gave off, the boy may be extremely skilled with the blade but he clearly lacked the experience as a good fighter. He spent a considerable amount of time training but rarely had the chance to actually apply his skills in combat. Squalo wanted to test him.

'I fight to protect my friends,' he replied confidently.

Squalo was slightly confused at Yamamoto's resolve. In his opinion, it was weak and extremely different to his own reason. There was nothing in his tone that indicated he became a swordsman to prove his own worth, he was only fighting for the sake of others. Squalo didn't understand why someone would progress their own skills to satisfy another person, sure he liked to impress Xanxus but that was definitely not the main reason for his determination to improve.

'Is that it?' Squalo mocked.

'Hmm, yeah,' Yamamoto laughed again. Squalo had the urge to slap the smile off his face. 'What about you?'

Squalo grinned ferociously this time.

'I fight to test myself.' Yamamoto's eyes widened slightly but the friendliness never left his eyes.

'How weird,' he commented happily.

'Huh? I think your reason's pretty shit too,' snarled Squalo. Again, Yamamoto wasn't bothered by Squalo's rudeness.

'Haha, I'm guessing you're also a swordsman from that sword in your hands. We could be good friends.' Squalo resisted the urge to face palm, he doubt he could truly insult the boy in front of him so he gave up. Unfortunately for him, Yamamoto had no intention of quickly showing him his room.

'Do you want to see our training grounds?' He asked when he noticed Squalo's frown. The shark's face lit up when he heard the words 'training grounds', he had to admit the kid knew how to interest him.

'Where?'

'On the third floor, it's huuuge as almost half of the floor is built for training. It might be a bit inconvenient because it's underground and we can't really fight to our full –'

'Show me!' Squalo demanded. Nobody told him that Vongola had their own training area. Yamamoto brightened even more at Squalo's enthusiasm and the two swordsmen quickened their pace towards the elevator.

'Voi, how many elevators do you guys have?' Asked Squalo when he noticed that this one was different to the one he was in earlier.

'Ten on every floor, there's about three hundred Vongola members so we need that many in case there's an invasion of some sort and everyone needs to get to the surface.'

'Huh, interesting…' the shark commented as the lift went down.

'All the main offices are on the first floor, the dining area on the second, training grounds on the third, the rooms are on the fourth and fifth floors…'

Squalo wasn't listening to Yamamoto's explanation as he was too busy imagining the possible facilities in the training area.

'The elite members and squad leaders get special rooms on the fourth floor, theirs are bigger than the normal ones…'

'Voi, shut up.'

'Ah? You don't like hearing me talk?' Yamamoto blinked and smiled at the scowl on Squalo's face, 'okay I'll stop.'

Squalo quietly followed Yamamoto for the rest of the trip across the third floor. When they reached the desired destination, Squalo couldn't help letting out a gasp of awe. The area was empty now as everyone was eating so Squalo took the chance to explore every nook and cranny. The main floor was huge and empty, evidently used for combat training, at the sides of the room were various doors leading to other smaller ones. There were weapon stores, body building machines and many other features that caught Squalo's interest. He didn't know how long he and Yamamoto were there looking through all the aspects of the miraculous room.

'You like it?' Yamamoto asked, beaming at the excited shark.

'Hell yeah, can anyone just come and train here?'

'Of course, mostly people just lounge in their room or their friends' rooms but sometimes when they feel like it, they'll come and practice here.'

_Perfect_. Squalo couldn't wait to try the place out. In a considerably better mood as Yamamoto lead him to his designated room, the shark made his mind to come up here first thing tomorrow morning. Upon reaching Squalo's bedroom, Yamamoto bade him a 'goodnight' and left. Squalo opened the solid metal door to his new chamber to come face to face with a small bed, a bedside table, a small wardrobe and a door leading to the bathroom. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at the sight in front of him.

This was a poor replacement for his previous home, in fact it was even worse than his peasant home. The room was much too small to do anything except sleep, walk around for a bit and go to the toilet. It was around 5x5 metres on each side, he wouldn't even be able to swing his sword properly without damaging the walls. The bed was single and white, evidently replaced recently.

Squalo threw his sword onto the floor and rummaged through the wardrobe. There were various black cotton long-sleeved shirts and leather pants given to him. It was a feeble place but he had no other choice but to quietly accept it.

'Enjoying yourself scum?'

Squalo jumped and spun around quickly to find Xanxus leaning casually on the door-frame. He cursed silently for not closing the door, how many times had he let the raven catch him unguarded already?

'Voi, get lost!' He snapped but Xanxus as usual, didn't listen. The scarred man made his way into the tiny room and grabbed the swordsman by the shoulders with both hands. For a moment they locked onto each other's eyes and Squalo almost let himself get taken in by longing. _Almost_. There was a foreign feeling inside him, when it started he didn't know but he felt it every time he looked at the other man. Instinct told him to spurn those strange emotions.

'I'm fucking tired,' he lied, 'get lost.'

Xanxus continued to stare at him for a while before he gave a small 'hmph', turned and left silently. Squalo let out a sigh of relief when the footsteps disappeared, making sure to close and lock the door properly. He didn't like how the other man made him feel those things, giving into those desires would only make him weaker and he hated weakness. Attempting to forget his internal confusion, the swordsman started to undress himself. The thought of the newly discovered training grounds lessened his worries slightly and he jumped into bed contentedly after a quick wash.

Squalo woke up completely energized the next morning. Pulling on one of the black shirts Vongola provided for him, he grabbed his sword and raced toward the nearest elevator eager to finish his breakfast quickly. Unsure where to sit, he made his way to his previous one on the Varia table. From a distance he could spot Fran sitting next to the blonde boy from yesterday and talking casually with him. If he wasn't mistaken, Fran had actually managed to make a 'friend'.

When he reached them, the blonde boy gave a wide grin at Squalo whilst Fran greeted him normally with his monotone. Fran seemed to be dealing with the boy's snobbishness pretty well, not only did the blonde boy fail to extract any kind of emotion from the illusionist, Fran's constant snide remarks actually made a humorous impact on the self proclaimed 'prince'. The boy's name, Squalo learnt after asking, was Bel. He liked to kill people, Fran told him.

Gulping down the food at breakneck speed, Squalo bade them goodbye and traveled to the third floor. Now that he didn't work for Grid, he didn't need to do jobs anymore and all his spare time could be used to refine his skills. It didn't take long for him to find the training area even if he was searching from memory, the place took up such a large portion of the third floor that it was actually hard to avoid it.

He saw that there were around thirty people or so spread out across the spacious main area. Some were alone, sitting on benches and watching everyone else, others were clustered in small groups and practicing together. Walking across the floor, Squalo could tell from the corner of his eye that many individuals were staring at him awkwardly but he didn't mind them. He made his way to an empty section next to a rack of weapons and drew his sword, ready to begin practicing. However he didn't expect to find five Vongola members from a nearby group approach him.

Squalo was about to swing his sword for his usual warm-up before the men got so close he couldn't safely practice with the weapon.

'Move it!' He snarled, suddenly aware that they had formed a small circle around him.

'You're that S-class from Grid,' the one facing Squalo said in an accusing tone, he was slightly older than the shark and he also held a sword.

'So what? You're in the way!'

But to Squalo's disappointment, the man refused to move and neither did his comrades.

'You don't belong here,' the Vongola underling said abruptly. Squalo couldn't care less what the man thought, he was used to this kind of hostile treatment everywhere he went.

'Well too bad, I'm here,' he growled eyes flashing. The four other Vongola members surrounding Squalo backed away slightly as if he might suddenly jump around and stab them with his drawn sword. Their apparent leader did a slightly better job at hiding his discomfort.

'You're a monster,' one of them shouted, voice shaking slightly. Squalo ignored him, his eyes were still fixed on the man holding the sword.

'I don't trust you. None of us here…' the man motioned widely around the room, '…trust you either.'

'Voi, you think I give a shit? Get out of my way or I'll cut you.'

Squalo's silver sword shone menacingly in the light but the man held up his own blade in response. Squalo noticed that the blade was dull and far from the beauty of his own.

'I don't know what you did to win _their_ trust,' the man said, 'Master Tsuna is too forgiving for his own good but we won't forget what you did to us that easily.'

Squalo was starting to get seriously annoyed at the man's bickering. Grunting, he turned around in an attempt to break from the circle. He glared menacingly at the two men who were standing behind him and walked towards them. To his hidden delight, they were intimidated and reluctantly moved away for him to pass however their leader refused to give up.

'You've killed hundreds, probably even thousands of us peasants!' He shouted for the room to hear. Squalo gave an inward groan at the mention of his previous actions with Grid. He had a sudden desire to cut the man's head off but then exercised some self control; it would be disastrous if he killed anyone here. Vongola would surely kick him out or lock him up again, he hated being locked up.

'Get over it scum,' Squalo sneered back at the annoying man.

He should have seen this coming. Of course they'd talk shit to him for what he did before. He didn't expect the Vongola to forgive him that easily but what was this guilt in his stomach at their dire accusations? He was the wrong one here and he knew it, they had every right to say the stuff they did so why was he actually, rather _hurt_ by their comments? He didn't need their respect, nor did he care about their opinion of him.

The man was stubborn and refused to back away.

'Don't try to deny it,' he spat, 'you were one of the two who slaughtered the entire Hyrae village a month ago.'

_Hyrae village?_ Was that the place he destroyed with Taros?

'I'll say this again, get out of my way or I'll really beat the shit out of you,' Squalo threatened.

'Fight me then. I see you're holding a sword, this will be a fair clash.'

Without warning, the man lurched forward to deliver a blow with his blade but Squalo easily avoided the attack. The man was slow, there was nothing else to it and his technique wasn't impressive either. Squalo could tell an amateur when he saw one and his current opponent unmistakably fit the category. The shark with effortless grace responded with a much more forceful hit.

The man blocked the blow with his sword but only barely and the ridiculous strength behind the attack knocked him off his feet. This was going to be an easy fight, thought Squalo, and the perfect excuse to teach the scum and any onlookers not to mess with him. The man was evidently shocked by the power of his opponent, so much that he couldn't get to his feet in time.

Squalo swung his blade down hard at the struggling man on the floor but to his surprise, his swing was blocked not by the man, but by a different blade.

'Squalo! What are you doing?' Yamamoto looked aghast at the scene in front of him. The man got to his feet quickly, panting and sweating but most of all relieved by Yamamoto's intervention.

'He was pissing me off,' Squalo snarled, the desire to keep on fighting was rising rapidly and he could feel adrenaline racing through his veins.

'Haha, why did you piss Squalo off?' Yamamoto asked the man. The amateur swordsman clearly respected the black haired boy from the look of admiration in his eye.

'Master Yamamoto, he's an S-class…'

'Sure,' acceded Yamamoto, 'but he's in Vongola now so he's one of us.'

The man mumbled inaudibly at Yamamoto's comment and looked indignant at his support for Squalo. Reluctantly, he left the two men alone. Squalo was far from pleased however, nobody interfered with his fights and he hasn't had a proper one in ages.

'Geez, I knew you'd be here Squalo,' Yamamoto commented, cheerful demeanor returning at once, 'I could totally tell you were excited yesterday so I came down here to train with you.'

'VOI, then fight me you stupid brat.'

'But I haven't even warmed up yet,' complained Yamamoto.

Squalo ignored him and moved into his starting stance. Yamamoto noticed the seriousness in the shark did the same. For a few seconds the two swordsmen stood still staring at each other, observing each other's weaknesses and then Squalo broke the calm, attacking first. Yamamoto reacted with impressive speed at Squalo's relentless assault and excitement began to burn in both men.

Yamamoto was by far the most skilled swordsman Squalo has fought to date. His technique was oddly similar to his own but there were definitely detectable differences, nevertheless, Squalo found his respect for the cheerful boy rise during the fight. After clashing swords ferociously for a few minutes, Squalo successfully exploited an opening on Yamamoto and the black haired boy found the tip of Squalo's sword hovering at his neck.

Squalo withdrew when Yamamoto gave a nod of defeat.

'You're amazing!' Yamamoto gasped.

'You're not bad either kid,' Squalo admitted.

'Who taught you?' He asked with awe, eager to know the answer.

'Voi…I taught myself,' the shark replied.

'Nice.'

The two sat on the bench in silence as they rested. Yamamoto then suggested another fight and Squalo wholeheartedly agreed so the two sparred again.

'Squalo, your sword is glowing,' Yamamoto said, eying Squalo's blade with interest.

'Shit, that's my flame,' Squalo yelled when he noticed the blade giving off small bluish flames.

'I'm a rain too,' Yamamoto remarked, 'but I can't control my flame yet, it appears and then it disappears.'

They continued to fight, metal against metal clanging loudly across the room. Squalo was able to defeat Yamamoto every time but neither of them complained. Along the way, the two swordsman shared many words of advice and experiences. Squalo felt elated at having a buddy who was as devoted to the blade as he was, even though Yamamoto had considerably less experience than he, the shark knew both of them were improving.

Fighting with Xanxus gave him an unimaginable thrill that no other opponent did, but sparring against Yamamoto didn't disappoint him either. From observing the flaws in the teenager's movements Squalo was able to avoid the same mistakes in his own. Plus, the shark found out now that Yamamoto _did_ have a serious side to him.

'Oi, Sword freak!' Another boy the same age as Yamamoto ran towards them.

'Gokudera,' Yamamoto cried in delight, giving his friend a hug, 'this is Squalo.' He pointed to the shark.

'I know that, you idiot,' Gokudera said, blushing slightly at the hug, 'Tsuna wants to see you Squalo.'

'Voi, who the fuck is this Tsuna person?'

Squalo glanced at the clock and was taken back when he realized it was afternoon already.

'Hey you bastard! Say his name with some respect!' The silver haired boy exclaimed indignantly.

'Calm down Gokudera, Squalo, Tsuna is the head of Vongola.'

The statement took Squalo by surprise and he automatically tried to imagine what this 'boss' of Vongola would be like. If he managed to subdue people like Xanxus, Mukuro and the two infants then he must be even more of a monster than they.

'He's up in his office,' Gokudera growled at Squalo, 'first floor, want me to show you?'

'Nah, I don't need your shitty help.'

Gokudera was about to utter a retort before Yamamoto held him back.

'Hayato, wanna have a friendly match?'

'Huh? Hey, don't call me _Hayato_…'

Squalo left the two teenagers and made his way up to the first floor. He was slightly nervous, mainly because he was about to meet possibly the most powerful person in this organization, the person who managed to rule over Xanxus. He walked around, looking for the 'main office' and when he found it, decided to knock a few times instead of barging in.

When the door opened from the inside, Squalo made his way in and to his surprise, saw only Reborn sitting with a boy around the same age as Yamamoto and Gokudera.

'Voii where's this Tsuna?'

'That's me,' the brown haired boy smiled.

For a fleeting moment, Squalo thought it was some kind of joke. He sat gaping at the two Vongola members, eyes darting from Reborn to the boy who claimed to be 'Tsuna'.

'He's not lying Squalo,' Reborn confirmed, 'he's Tsuna, head of Vongola.'

'Nice to meet you,' Tsuna said in a welcoming manner.

_This little shit is the boss_? Squalo sat in silence, trying to hide his disbelief and disappointment. _How the hell did he manage to get Xanxus at his fingertips? _

'VOI, you're the boss?' He blurted out, unable to hide the mockery in his voice. Tsuna didn't seem to be offended by Squalo's doubt in him however.

'Well I'm generally acknowledged as the leader of Vongola,' he replied modestly, 'but that doesn't mean I have control over all of them,' he added quickly upon noticing the expression of disbelief on Squalo's face.

_Well that makes more sense_. Squalo couldn't imagine this little kid giving orders to Xanxus.

'What'd you call me here for?' The swordsman asked.

'To tell you our plans concerning you,' Reborn replied.

Squalo felt a spark of anger when he heard this. They already formulated plans for him, and he was expected to comply. Again, his fate was being pre-determined by people he had barely met. Neither Reborn nor Tsuna noticed Squalo's discomfort.

'Your two servants,' Reborn said, 'they've been appointed to the Varia squad with Xanxus' agreement.'

Squalo nodded slowly, unable to find a downside to their decision.

'That means they'll be on missions with Belphegor and Leviathan, they'll be subject to danger and Grid's forces,' he continued, 'do we have your permission?'

'Sure I guess,' Squalo replied but he thought it was more appropriate to see if Fran and Lussuria wanted such a position, 'have you asked them yet?'

'They're both eager to comply,' Tsuna answered.

'Xanxus told us to ask you too,' Reborn continued.

'Squalo, do you want to work with the Varia?' Tsuna waited patiently for an answer.

The shark hesitated. He didn't mind working for Xanxus, but for some reason he didn't want to be part of his squad either. Joining the squad meant committing himself to a team, and committing himself to Vongola.

'Nah, not interested,' he replied.

Surprisingly, both Vongola elites looked as if they expected Squalo's answer and didn't try convincing him otherwise.

'Another thing, Grid has recently announced the actions they are taking against us…' Reborn switched on a hologram and Squalo immediately recognized the machine as the croala.

'VOOI, how the heck…what…that's the croala,' he exclaimed in incredulity, 'how is the Croala accessible?'

'We've always used the croala as a means to obtain information on Grid's latest schemes,' Tsuna admitted, 'it's one of our more reliable sources of information, but definitely not the best.'

'B-but how, that thing is only available in the high district.'

'Our technicians, Shoichi and Spanner managed to hack into the system,' Reborn explained.

Squalo sat amazed at the advantage Vongola managed to obtain.

'You said there was a more reliable method for information on Grid,' he commented skeptically, 'what else could be better than this?'

'Dino,' Tsuna answered, 'he's been spying on the top nobles all this time.'

'Is that why he attends all the noble events?' Asked Squalo, suddenly understanding the reason behind Dino's appearance at the party as well as the most recent auction.

'Correct, the nobles trust him completely and most importantly, he is on the Axel's good side,' said the infant, 'occasionally he will get tips on Grid's plans and those tips he then conveys to us.'

Another significant advantage, thought Squalo, there was an extremely low chance that Vongola could possibly lose to Grid at this stage. He wondered what was stopping them from launching an all out attack on the nobles right now.

'Voi, am I just going to be kept here the whole time? Am I allowed to go to the surface?'

The mood suddenly darkened at his question but Tsuna answered it all the same.

'You'll see when you watch this…'

The switched on croala started to broadcast the news, evidently recorded from some time earlier today.

'_Yesterday, Vongola launched_ _an assault on our auction house resulting in the deaths of many nobles and grid hunters. Fortunately, our Lord Axel Pohlepa did not attend the auction and is safe and unharmed from the attack but that does not lessen the seriousness of the situation. The leader of that onslaught is Superbi Squalo, an ex-Grid-hunter S-class…' _

Squalo saw his own face being projected out of the broadcasting machine.

'…_he is an extremely dangerous peasant and if anyone sets eyes on him they should contact the Grid HQ immediately. We've sent S-classes to his home in Sector A-12 but it seems that it was already burnt up and destroyed by an unknown force before he left. Also, accompanying him is a Vongola elite whose name is unknown but General Taros has been able to provide a good description of him. He has short black hair with numerous scars on his face and his eyes are red, every peasant resembling that appearance will be hunted down and interrogated..._'

'_We've formed a special squad to hunt down those two criminals along with the Vongola headquarters, any helpful information should go to them.' _

Reborn switched off the machine with a click of the remote and Squalo directed his attention back to the two people in front of him.

'Huh, does this mean I can't go?'

'You'll be disappointed to hear this but it's definitely too dangerous for _you_ to be on missions with us,' Reborn declared, 'Xanxus too as much as he hates it.'

Squalo felt his anger flare up again, he hated it when people tried to prevent him from doing things. Did they feel that he wasn't strong enough to defend himself out there?

'Sorry Squalo,' Tsuna apologized and he truly meant it.

Silently furious, Squalo stood up and left, not caring if there were still things they wanted to talk about. He didn't want to fight for this shitty organization if the people there didn't even have faith in his strength. He was sick of being looked down on, both by the nobles and by the Vongola members.

With bottled up fury, he made his way down to the second floor hoping that a good meal would allow him to forget his anger. When he reached the Varia table, Xanxus was the only one there. Squalo noticed the extra seats now that Fran and Lussuria were appointed into the squad. Without greeting or looking at the scarred man, Squalo roughly pulled out a chair and sat.

He beckoned for a Vongola maid but to his disappointment, none wanted to come near him. Furious as ever, he sat glowering at everything around him. From the corner of his eye he could see Xanxus observing his unusual behavior curiously but Squalo was determined not to meet the raven's eye. As his eyes traveled around the room, he spotted Yamamoto sitting together and talking with Gokudera on the table for 'Squad A'. Dino was also on the same table, sitting next to the black haired boy with tonfas who attacked Squalo when he first arrived.

The whip holder was on a different chair to the rest of them so Squalo assumed that he must be the leader of that Squad. He carefully scrutinized the heads of the other Squads. There was a teenage boy who reminded him of Tsuna for Squad B, Mukuro Rokudo was the head of C, a man with messy white hair lead squad D and Colonello had Squad E.

Realizing that a maid wasn't going to come soon, Squalo got up and left the eating area without dinner. Bad mood never disappearing, he stumbled to the only place he could think of, the training grounds. To his content, it was empty as everyone was eating. Drawing his sword, he practiced the routine that he should have done earlier in the day before the five Vongola men interrupted.

His technique wasn't improving, on the contrary it was actually worse due to the distractions in his head. The words from the weak swordsman earlier rang in his head along with those of Tsuna and Reborn. _You don't belong here, _the memory of that statement hurt more than it should have. Frustrated and aware that he had been practicing for three hours with no progress, he put his katana back into its sheath and left for his room.

_Monster…we don't trust you_... Why was he letting their petty opinions affect him like this? Since when was he this weak? Squalo was confused and angry but worst of all, he was genuinely _hurt_. Just hurt. He couldn't understand why he felt upset, the Vongola men were just voicing the truth and it wasn't as if Squalo respected them.

…_too dangerous for you_… He was offended by the fact that Reborn thought he wasn't suited to take part in missions. It was an insult to the pain he experienced to get here, he didn't want to be caged even if he was safe inside the cage. It was against his nature to choose the safe path over the more dangerous one if it meant giving up everything that he believed in.

Plus, the way that everyone was acting towards him made him feel insignificant even. Most of the people looked at him no differently to how nobles looked at peasants, they pretended that he didn't exist. When he was with the Grid hunters, at least they acknowledged his presence, even if they disliked him for being 'inferior' by blood. They never doubted his strength and didn't bother keeping him safe in a shell, they recognized his potential, they tested him and sent him on life threatening tasks.

Reaching number 16 of the fifth floor, he was startled to find the door already open and the light inside his room switched on. _Was this some prank made by a few Vongola scum?_ Squalo hesitated before pushing the metal door open, expecting to be ambushed but he dropped his sword out of surprise when instead of Vongola underlings, was Xanxus sitting on his bed.

Squalo bent down hastily to pick up the dropped object whilst Xanxus stood up suddenly and made his way toward the beset swordsman.

'What's the matter?' He growled, forcing Squalo to look into his eyes.

'Voi, why the hell do you care?' The shark snapped, breaking their eye contact. Xanxus slammed the door shut, locking both of them in. Without warning he took Squalo's hands and pinned them against the wall above his head.

'You're acting strange,' he grumbled, breathing against the shark's hair.

'I'm fucking fine, VOI!' Squalo struggled without success against the tanned hands holding him captive, ignoring the chill down his spine when he felt the other man's breath.

Xanxus tilted his chin up with his free hand and brought their lips together for the second time. The two were wrestling for a moment before Squalo admitted defeat and ceased struggling. They stood, Squalo's back against the wall with Xanxus kissing him ferociously, pressing their bodies together. When they broke apart for breath, Xanxus saw that Squalo had calmed down a little and removed his grip on the younger man's arms, instead, he encircled both his arms around the shark's waist and dived in for another kiss.

Squalo against his better judgment, lifted an arm and grabbed the back of Xanxus' head, pushing their heads forcefully against each other. He had missed this passion, the last kiss they shared seemed like generations ago. He felt Xanxus smirk against his lips and shoved his own tongue in the other's mouth in a futile attempt to gain dominance.

'So what's wrong?' Xanxus asked, panting slightly, releasing short warm breaths down Squalo's neck.

Squalo pushed him away roughly, annoyed as usual at how easily Xanxus had rendered him to this pathetic state.

'Fuck, your stupid _boss_ won't let me go on a goddamn mission' Squalo started, punching the wall.

Xanxus grunted and pushed the swordsman onto the small bed before trapping him between the mattress.

'Don't listen to him then,' Xanxus replied, planting a small kiss onto Squalo's neck.

'Stop molesting me damnit,' Squalo yelled, pushing the raven's head away, 'and I've had a bunch of weaklings accusing me of the shit I've done in the past…'

Xanxus stopped the sexual advances and instead, buried his head onto the side of Squalo's neck whilst lying on top of the swordsman. He re-established his embrace around the silver haired's waist.

'What did you expect scum?' He growled against the shark's neck.

_He's right… _Squalo closed his eyes, savoring the other man's warmth around him. Their antagonistic behavior was completely normal and he was stupid for not preparing himself for it, he had actually thought – even hoped- that the people of Vongola would be forgiving of his crimes. They were still human, it was his own mistake to expect friendliness from the people who only two days ago, were his greatest enemies.

'If they're bothering you that much then kill them,' Xanxus suggested, grabbing a lock of Squalo's hair and twirling it around his fingers.

'Voi, I will if anymore scum come at me like that,' Squalo agreed in turn, playing with the feathers attached to Xanxus' hair. He couldn't believe he was actually letting the raven lie on top of him and was equally surprised when Xanxus made no attempt to remove Squalo's hand from his hair. For a few minutes they just stayed like that, quietly, _peacefully_ even.

'Do you believe that there are other cities? Is that why you work for Vongola?' Asked Squalo suddenly, curious about what Xanxus' thought of the matter.

'Hn, there's nothing else to believe in,' Xanxus replied, not removing his head from Squalo's neck.

'What if they're lying?'

'Then they're lying. But anything's better than here...' the raven muttered. Squalo agreed, in the slight chance that the infants were telling the truth, he would side with Vongola.

'The fuck did you do today?' Squalo asked, breaking the awkward silence.

'Mission,' the raven grunted sleepily.

'I just fought with the Yamamoto kid, he's pretty good like you said,' Squalo whispered.

'Hmm…'

The recollection of the five Vongola men this morning visited his mind again. His eyes scanned around the tiny bedroom, the white walls and the solid metal door, the familiar feeling of being trapped and restrained came once more.

'I hate this place…' he grumbled to himself, not expecting Xanxus to reply seeing the number of times he has complained about the Vongola to that very man.

'Do you regret helping me?' Xanxus murmured gently but the words made a considerable impact on the swordsman. Squalo thought carefully before replying, the solid truth was that he didn't regret saving Xanxus from the cells of Grid. He had long decided that.

'Why would I regret saving your ass?' Squalo replied with more force than he intended. The raven shuffled slightly for a more comfortable position above the swordsman, he didn't make any move to get off or leave but he didn't answer Squalo's question either. Squalo decided to give him a small pinch on the cheek, both as a way to reinforce the truth in his statement and as a gesture of affection.

'Train with me if you don't like the weaker members,' Xanxus growled, massaging his face in return before relaxing his grip on the swordsman.

Squalo allowed himself to grin a little at how vulnerable Xanxus looked from his point of view. The scarred man's words made Squalo almost certain that he actually cared about him to some extent. He liked the feeling because it made it easier for him to accept his own emotions and return the caring.

Xanxus' breathing became more even as time passed and Squalo had the suspicion that the raven had fallen asleep on him. Allowing the large body to be slumped over him, the shark found himself slowly drifting into slumber, thoughts racing but anger from the day's events disappearing completely. At least Xanxus trusted and placed his faith in him, that was all Squalo needed for now.

-TBC-

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><p><strong>[AN]** - Xanxus too sappy/caring? Forgive me, you'll be seeing a lot of sappy (and slightly OOC) Xanxus in this fic. Don't like then don't read.

FYI, any character who was not named in this chapter (healers/maids/vongola members who hurt Squalo) are not canon/important characters. See them as OCs if you like.

The pinch on cheek thing between Xanxus & Squalo is this ridiculous idea that came to my mind. It's like this sort of personal gesture between them, I thought it was pretty cute.

Anyways, thanks to those awesome people who have been leaving long and helpful reviews, I really appreciate it.


	6. Rematch

**[A/N] -  
><strong>Yo guys! This chapter is finally up, sorry for making you wait 2 months. I decided to release it now for Squalo's early birthday which is somewhere in March right?

The next one should be coming in a month. Enjoy this!~

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><p><strong>Chapter 6 - Rematch<br>**

It was a month before Squalo got his first mission for Vongola. He didn't know why he was suddenly called to Tsuna's office, suddenly told that he and some others would be crashing a Grid hunter gathering in the high district. He didn't know what made Tsuna change his mind but Squalo didn't complain, anything was better than being stuck around the training grounds all day.

So now, he was sitting in the hover-van with thirteen others, waiting to arrive at their designated area.

Mukuro was the leader of this mission, much to Squalo's distaste. However as much as he disliked the enigma behind the illusionist, the shark had to thank him for what he did to Fran; the boy was now a full fledged illusionist after one month of vigorous mental training. Apart from Mukuro, Gokudera and Yamamoto were also assigned to this mission, they sat quietly, so quiet that Squalo had no problem detecting nervousness within them. Apart from those three, the rest were various underlings sent to accompany them, scattered around the van.

Things have changed since he first arrived at Vongola's headquarters. For one, Vongola members no longer glanced at him in fear when he walked by, maybe because they realized he wasn't going to unexpectedly jump up and kill them. Still, Squalo could tell he wasn't forgiven. He heard the mutterings behind his back, people reminding other people of the crimes he once committed, rumors how he never went on a mission and yet still hungrily used all their resources, not to mention the sardonic remarks concerning his 'bravery'… but it wasn't like he cared what they thought. He constantly asked himself why he even stayed with an organization like Vongola but his reply to that very question could be answered with one word: Xanxus.

Squalo wasn't sure how to describe his relationship with the raven. After his first day, Xanxus decided to make another visit to his room, and another and another after that. Squalo didn't know why the dark haired man wanted to sleep on _his_ tiny little bed every night, squished and cramped without sufficient space to move around, hugging him like a life-sized plushie as he drifted into slumber. That is, until one day when Xanxus decided to take his sexual advances beyond the bear hugs and kisses.

It was on his fourth or fifth night -Squalo couldn't remember- when Xanxus all of a sudden barged into his room and stripped himself clean. Ignoring Squalo's 'what the fuck are you doing', he proceeded to strip the shark as well, ripping off the black Vongola trousers along with the thin cotton shirt. Their first time was rough, violent yet blissfully romantic. Squalo didn't try stopping Xanxus, partly because he was curious to see how it worked and judging from the awkward movements that Xanxus executed, the raven was new to this too.

The sensation was utterly strange and humiliating at the same time, if anyone else even attempted to coerce him into this, Squalo would have killed them in the most painful way imaginable. However, Xanxus was not 'anyone else' so Squalo willingly gave himself to the raven. He tried to reduce the pain by biting down hard onto Xanxus' shoulder whilst the other was pounding him into the tiny mattress, hard enough that the raven's shoulder was covered in blood after they were done.

And this went on for a few more days before Xanxus finally gave into the lack of space in Squalo's room. He ordered the shark one night, to make a visit to his room on the fourth floor the next day, a request which Squalo had no trouble complying to mainly because despite the number of complaints he voiced, he enjoyed Xanxus fucking him senseless immensely. So from then on, trips to Xanxus' room became a nightly routine. He wondered if he _loved_ Xanxus, but decided he would answer that question…later.

Squalo also enjoyed the time he spent with the other man during the day when they weren't copulating. Xanxus frequently watched him train, quietly sitting on the bench whilst he swung his sword around for practice, or when he was sparring with Yamamoto. The raven never made a comment whilst he watched but it wasn't feedback that Squalo desired. It was a rematch. He wanted another friendly spar with Xanxus.

And a fight he was getting, he thought, after deciding that he was going to ask the Vongola elite first thing upon returning from his current mission.

'Voii, stop fidgeting!' Squalo snapped at a nearby Vongola underling who was shaking slightly from nerves. The said member jumped abruptly before sending a not-so-intimidating glare back at the swordsman. Squalo bared his teeth at the man.

Seriously, he didn't understand why those pissy little weaklings were sent with them in the first place if they were going to be demoralized by some simple mission. The objective was easy: kill everyone in sight, let no one escape. He's had them hundreds of times when working with Grid, the only difference now was that he'd be killing nobles instead.

'Squalo, don't blame them for being nervous,' Yamamoto said from his corner, 'you might be experienced in this but remember it's the first time for a lot of us.'

'Well your shitty boss should have sent me alone on this crappy mission, then I wouldn't have to deal with weakshits like these,' Squalo growled, not caring the least that he just insulted the majority of his team.

'Hey!' Gokudera stood up scowling, 'don't insult Tsuna.'

Squalo returned with indifference upon seeing Gokudera's indignant expression, 'I insult whoever I want trash. That shitty Tsuna looks too weak to lead anything in the first place…'

Squalo bit back the rest of his sentence as he noticed the looks of outrage on the other Vongola members' faces. Hastily, he glanced at Mukuro whom to his relief looked unbothered at the notion of his 'leader' being insulted; instead the illusionist was eying the scene in front of him in an amused manner.

'I won't allow you to talk about him that way,' Gokudera threatened, pulling out a handful of dynamites, eyes blazing. Yamamoto realizing what was about to happen decided to intervene.

'Hayato calm down,' he said forcing Gokudera back into his seat, 'Squalo, please don't insult Tsuna like that, you don't understand the pain he's going through leading Vongola.'

'Pain?' Squalo was taken by surprise at this remark, what kind of pain do you experience leading the Vongola? Pressure he could understand, responsibility too, but _pain_? As far as he knew the Tsuna kid lacked the furious resolve to conduct such an authoritative organization, Xanxus would without a doubt be a far better leader. Squalo however had never once speculated that Tsuna might _not_ be enjoying his dominant position as the head.

'Our boss,' Gokudera snapped, 'isn't a cold blooded killer like you Grid hunters, or even like the squad captains. He hates seeing people get hurt, he's well and truly against all this mess between Grid and Vongola yet he still does his best to fulfill his role.'

'Pfft, he still sounds like a pathetic little shit to me,' Squalo replied. If Xanxus, or even one of the other Squad leaders were in control, Grid would already be defeated. 'Someone like him would only weaken Vongola, that's what I'm feeling.'

Gokudera looked livid at Squalo's rude remarks but he managed to remain in his seat, Yamamoto did not release his grip on Gokudera but he did look disapproving of Squalo's words.

'Oi, you bastard illusionist, are you just going to sit there while your boss gets insulted?' Gokudera turned to Mukuro who had his chin resting on his hand, looking bemused.

'What others think of Sawada is none of my business, and since when was he ever my boss?' Mukuro commented playfully although Squalo could detect an agitated gleam in his eye at the mention that Tsuna was his superior.

A sudden understanding dawned on the shark as he realized that people like Mukuro, Byakuran and even Xanxus probably had their personal objectives for siding with Vongola. He was naïve to think that they had willingly submitted themselves to Tsuna.

Gokudera was about to utter a retort before the van suddenly stopped, an indication that they were at their destination. The atmosphere in the vehicle immediately became tense and all recollections of the argument five minutes ago were forgotten. Mukuro too, surprisingly lost all the careless demeanor he possessed a second ago, his face now was etched with seriousness.

'Listen,' he said in a quiet low voice and nobody dared disobey, 'I'd prefer not to fail this mission.'

Squalo saw a few underlings gulp but this time he didn't blame them, the tone in the illusionist's voice was enough to shake him a little even. Mukuro proceeded to outline the objectives of their mission.

'There are forty A-classes out there and there are fourteen of us,' his voice was calming yet aggravating at the same time, 'all of you, save for this loud-mouth here,' he nudged his head in Squalo's direction, 'and me, are to take them down two against one. Understood?'

Everyone in the nodded, no one dared question the reason behind Mukuro's orders.

'They are spread out around the area like I showed you prior to the mission. You know who your targets are. You are to kill them in the most efficient way possible. I do not want _anyone_ playing hero or attempting to drag their fights out,' at this comment he gave Squalo a quick glance, 'once you have eliminated your designated A-class, return here immediately. I'm setting up an illusion to hide this van so it's crucial you remember this spot, you will wait until all of us are gathered, that is assuming none of us are killed,' he gave a soft laugh, 'it's none of my business but try to stay alive, it's a real bother replacing you ants.'

As soon as Mukuro gave the signal, Squalo along with everyone else flooded out into the light. Squalo felt a torrent of adrenaline as he ran into the sunlight, trying to spot his targets. From the corner of his eye, he saw an A-class fall silently, killed instantly by Mukuro. Grinning, he drew his sword and proceeded to slice another A-class who had just noticed the ambush.

The group was scattered now, all eager to complete their own roles in the assignment. The few unfortunate A-classes who happened to be hanging around their van lay breathless on the concrete floor. Squalo looked around to find Vongola men running off in pairs in different directions, Yamamoto and Gokudera were nowhere in sight and neither was Mukuro. Taking a good glance at his surroundings, Squalo, remembering the map Mukuro had shown him, ran in his assigned direction.

As soon as he turned the corner however, five A-classes jumped out and ambushed him. Snarling he took two down quickly but not before they managed to deal a heavy blow on his right arm, the remaining three took their stances at a distance, preparing to attack again. He glanced over and saw two Vongola men lying in a pool of blood, the same two who had shown the most nerves during the trip.

_Tch insignificant deaths_, he thought as he observed his arm. Blood was flowing freely out of the wound they inflicted on him, dripping down onto the cement. Holding his sword steadily, he eyed his three opponents who instead of focusing on him, seemed to muttering frantically into their phones. Realizing what was happening, Squalo hastily launched an attack but the men were ready and successfully blocked his attacks. Slowly, they formed a circle around him, trapping him whilst one was giving directions into his communicating device.

Squalo aimed for that one first, slashing his sword sideways and successfully creating a fang-like beam which cut the A-class in half. He couldn't help smirking with triumph of his attack, a month of heavy sword fighting had allowed him to control his flames to an extent. The other two, at the sight of their leader falling decided to run but the shark slew them with ease before they could even take two steps. A loud ringing sound brought his attention to the sky and he cursed softly upon seeing many Grid hover vans fly past his head, preparing to land in the vicinity.

No doubt those A-classes had informed Grid at the sight of him, if they continued like this the squad would be killed. Growling, Squalo attempted to look around for Mukuro but as soon as the thought came to him, he felt a sharp tingle in his mind and the illusionist's voice in his head.

'_Get back we're retreating.' _

Glancing at the last hovercraft fly out of sight, Squalo quickly made his way back to the initial area to see Mukuro standing next to their van and various Vongola members running back towards him.

'What happened? Why are we suddenly leaving?' Asked Gokudera who was sporting a bloody lip and supporting Yamamoto who looked on the brink of unconsciousness.

'They've sent reinforcements,' Squalo answered for him. Gokudera nodded, appreciating the seriousness of the situation. Yamamoto stirred slightly.

'We lost…three…on our side…' he gasped, coughing blood.

'We need to leave,' Mukuro ordered, 'we're all here not counting the dead ones.'

Upon hearing this, the group hurriedly made their way back inside the hover-van which took off invisible to any onlookers, thanks to Mukuro's illusion.

There was a loud silence as everyone sat tensely, as if waiting to be punished. Squalo counted the heads and noticed that five were missing. A couple of Vongola men were tending to Yamamoto's injuries whilst the rest were nursing their own.

'How many did we lose?' Someone asked.

'Five,' Mukuro replied brusquely.

'How come they sent reinforcements? They normally wouldn't do so!' Gokudera exclaimed, looking confused.

Mukuro didn't answer him but Squalo's gaze met his and both men knew the reason.

Squalo bowed his head in shame, it was his fault. He felt sick and sorry, not for the men who died but because he detested the notion of a failed mission when he was the sole person responsible for that failure. Maybe Reborn and Tsuna were right for not sending him out on errands, his presence alone was enough for the entire Grid army to appear. He had learnt his lesson, the hard way.

The guilt of being useless could eat him up more than anything else in the world.

'Voi…I'm sorry,' he blurted, to everyone's surprise. The Vongola men looked at him puzzled.

'It's my fucking fault this happened,' Squalo snarled at their bewildered expressions, 'those A-classes saw me, and they contacted the main building -'

'You know,' Mukuro interrupted, 'it really irritates me when people try to take responsibility for everyone else's mistakes.'

'And I really fucking hate it when people try to make me feel better like you are doing right now,' Squalo snapped back. He didn't need comfort from these Vongola scum, he wasn't some child who required reassurance from his superiors when making a mistake.

'It's not your fault Squalo,' Yamamoto said meekly from his spot, 'they would have sent for reinforcements eventually, and by then we might not even make it out alive.'

Squalo sent him a cold glare before slumping back into his seat, cursing them silently.

'I don't need sympathy from you scum,' he said in a low voice.

'Who says we were giving you sympathy?' Mukuro declared, 'we were merely speaking the truth, if you can't handle that then you need to get over yourself.'

Squalo was taken back by the force behind those words but it didn't stop him from feeling useless. Despite seeing the reality behind their comments, Squalo still had to admit that it was still partly due to him that they had to retreat early. He sighed, there was nothing he could do about it, he could only go back and train harder, make himself useful for the man he had sworn to fight for.

Which lead him to his next thought.

He was going to train with Xanxus because that way would bring him the most improvement in the shortest amount of time. Reborn had announced that they would launch the main attack in a month's time, which meant Squalo would be having his fight-to-death with Taros at the respective occasion. With Xanxus' help, Squalo would get there in no time.

The prospect of a rematch when he returned cheered him up slightly and he waited patiently for the hover-van to arrive back at the base. Squalo decided to have lunch before challenging Xanxus to a fight, the man was probably locked up sleeping in his room as usual. However when he arrived at the dining area, there was a small crowd encircling the area where he normally ate.

Squalo moved closer to look at the scene in front of him. People were watching with fear etched in their faces, nobody dared interfere with what was going on. They edged away slightly when the shark made his appearance. Squalo's heart gave a leap at the sight of Xanxus in the middle, but he paused to watch what was going on before making his move.

Xanxus was holding a distraught Vongola maid by the hair with every trace of fury smothered on his face. There was something feral in the manner his eyes gleamed, something that Squalo had never seen before.

'You expect me to eat this shit?' He roared, tightening his grip on the maid's golden locks. The girl was making a futile attempt to break away from the iron grasp.

'I-I-I'm sorry –'

'Sorry's not going to cut it you fucking bitch,' Xanxus grabbed his plate of food and smashed it onto the maid's face, effectively stimulating a collective gasp in the crowd. Blood mixed with juice from the steak wound its way down the girl's face, she now broke into sobs.

Squalo was particularly surprised at Xanxus' behavior, he had seen the man angry before when his meal was unsatisfactory but not to this extent. There must be something else going on. The shark was about to step in and ask before a hand grabbed his shoulder, halting him in his tracks. Squalo turned around to come face to face with Dino who shook his head, silently telling him not to interfere.

Hesitantly obeying, Squalo stood with the crowd and watched in awe.

The maid didn't even try to fight back which seemed to piss Xanxus off even more.

'You think I'm not going to notice if you cook me a shitty meal like this?' He growled in a tone that was foreign to Squalo's ears. The shark had never seen Xanxus truly angry and was genuinely stunned by the unreasonable act he was witnessing. Xanxus sounded beside himself but Squalo's gut told him that the anger was completely irrelevant to the distasteful quality of his meal.

The maid attempted to shake her head and defend herself but before she could make a move, Xanxus' hand that was holding her head lit on fire. Her head was consequently burnt into a crisp and her lifeless body dropped to the floor in a disorganized heap. An outbreak of mutterings rippled through the crowd, Squalo heard Dino curse softly in pity but he couldn't take his eyes off Xanxus. His body was lit up with desire as he eyed the angry man, there was something about that mysterious rage that attracted him deeply.

Xanxus seemed oblivious to the noisy crowd and seemed to be deep in thought after his murder. He watched apathetically as a few Vongola nurses scurried in to clean up the mess he made.

'What the fuck happened?' Squalo whispered urgently to Dino by his side, his eyes were still on the raven. Dino gave a small sigh before answering.

'He wasn't allowed to go on a mission with the rest of his men,' Dino said in a low voice.

'You mean the mission that Fran, Lussuria and the Varia went on this morning?' Squalo hissed, 'so what? He wouldn't get angry over that, if he really wanted to go he'd go anyways.'

'Exactly,' Dino answered urgently, 'this time was different though. He really knew that even if he went he'd be no help to them. He'd be just a nuisance. I think that's why he's so angry.'

Squalo nodded after immediately understanding the cause of Xanxus' sudden anger. He could relate to the raven, he knew what it felt like to be truly useless and unneeded. Squalo suddenly had the urge to comfort the man, after all Xanxus had taken care of him during his harsh month at the base so far. It was time to repay him.

Xanxus seemed to have had enough of the commotion and stormed out of the dining area. Squalo seeing his chance made to follow him but was halted by Dino again.

'Squalo, it's best to leave him be for now. He's unpredictable and dangerous when he's like that –'

'Voi, get lost.' Squalo pushed Dino aside before running after Xanxus.

The raven was evidently heading to his room on the floor below and Squalo was lucky that Xanxus had decided to use the stairs.

'Hey, Xanxus! Wait up!' He called but the raven kept on walking, not even sparing a glance behind him.

Whether he had heard or not, Squalo couldn't tell. Was Xanxus purposely ignoring him or was he still trapped in that unbreakable rage where he couldn't hear?

Nevertheless, Xanxus left a path of fear as he strode across the hallway, people halted in their tracks to move out of his way which made it easy for Squalo to follow him. The shame Xanxus felt must be great for Squalo had never been ignored like this by the other man. It would usually take one call of his name for Xanxus to acknowledge Squalo, and after that they would spend their day together whether it be training, eating or other matters. Wherever Xanxus went, Squalo would follow like a loyal subordinate and the raven seemed to like his company.

When Xanxus reached his room, he slammed the heavy metal door and locked it, effectively preventing Squalo from barging inside. Patience starting to wear, Squalo banged on the door and yelled for Xanxus to let him in. Did the raven think he was here to mock him?

'Voii, Xanxus. Who cares if you weren't allowed to go on that shitty mission,' Squalo shouted, loud enough for Xanxus to hear behind the solid metal separating them.

'I want to spar again, that'll make you feel better I bet,' he continued to shout.

No answer. Maybe Xanxus decided to go to sleep.

'Just open the fucking door,' Squalo banged again, 'I get how you feel damnit so let me talk to you!'

Still no answer. Squalo lost the little patience he had.

'Voi, stop being so fucking pathetic. You weren't useful for your men. Big deal! Stop sulking in there like a whiny little –'

Squalo was interrupted by a deafening crash against the metal door. Xanxus had evidently thrown an object there, it sounded like glass. His aim was perfect though, if the door had not existed the object would have hit Squalo's head straight on.

'Be like that fucker,' Squalo snapped and walked away. _He_ wasn't going to waste his time convincing the man to come out if he was determined to lock himself up and wallow in self pity.

The shark in a grumpy mood made his way up to the training grounds on the floor above. _I guess I'm not getting the fight today then_, he would just have to wait until Xanxus was in a better mood. He'd have to train by himself for now since Yamamoto was still recovering from the previous mission.

Putting his sword aside, he worked on some basic drills to improve his endurance and overall physique. For some reason he didn't feel like practicing with his sword today so he continued to work on the push-ups and sit-ups slowly. He didn't even notice time passing as he trained, neither did he notice another presence walking up to him.

A rough hand unexpectedly grabbed Squalo's hair and yanked him upwards from his sitting position.

'What the fuck.'

Squalo turned around to find Xanxus glaring right at him, eyes containing the same light of rage that shone when he killed the Vongola maid. Xanxus didn't reply but lifted up a hand to deliver a punch which Squalo dodged ungracefully, sacrificing a few short strands of hair.

'Wait-'

Xanxus didn't give him any time to recover and sent a kick straight into Squalo's stomach. The shark grunted as the force of the kick knocked him back into the wall. He quickly rolled away as a dark fist made its mark on the section of the wall where his head had been a second ago. Squalo panted and backed away to safety as he kept his distance from the raven.

'Can you tell me why the fuck you're doing this?' Squalo quickly moved away as Xanxus leapt forward and delivered a flurry of attacks, all of which Squalo barely avoided. Again, the raven didn't answer but instead gave another kick and sent Squalo flying towards a rack of weapons. The shark was better prepared this time and flipped in mid-air to avoid crashing into the row of sharp swords, he bounced off the wall with his feet and landed a few metres away from the raven.

Squalo realized that words weren't going to go anywhere with the state that Xanxus was in. The look Xanxus gave him when glancing at his direction was beyond words for Squalo to describe, it was untamed, savage and oddly suited someone like Xanxus. It induced a hidden fire that threatened to incinerate him. Only then did the swordsman notice that extra scars had appeared on the raven's face, scars that weren't there normally.

Xanxus seemed to be unconcerned about the fact that he could have potentially killed Squalo, he stood there like a demon from hell, body radiating a dark, murderous aura. A flood of fear washed over the shark as they made eye contact. There was none of the compassion behind those ruby orbs that Squalo usually saw, he wondered if it was really Xanxus behind those eyes.

Summoning all his might, Squalo attempted to beat down his fear but it was impossible.

'You wanted a fight scum,' Xanxus voice was devoid of all the tenderness he had when he usually spoke to Squalo, it sounded cold and emotionless right now, 'so I'm giving you a fucking fight.'

With that, he jumped forward to send another punch. Squalo forced himself to move and block the punch with both hands but his body was numb from the fear and refused to budge, consequently the attack hit its mark perfectly; Squalo felt his abdomen contract as Xanxus' burning fist came in contact. He gasped and blood spurted upward from the bowels of his insides into his mouth, his body was sapped of energy and he collapsed onto the floor.

Xanxus, instead of giving Squalo time to recover grabbed his hair again and threw him against the wall. Squalo forced down a yell as his head cracked against the metal and he struggled to stay on his feet. The intense pain in his belly cleansed away the numbness from the fear and he found control over his body again. He watched as Xanxus strode over slowly, eyes burning with madness.

Squalo felt his own anger rise as the pain in his stomach increased, the ferocious drive to hurt Xanxus was rapidly taking over his own body. He wasn't going to stand there and get beaten up. Even if he was going to die in the process, he will not back away from a battle. He couldn't stop the fear from smoldering within him but his mind was miraculously clear and his desire to fight back took over any doubts he had.

Before Xanxus could initiate another assault, Squalo at lightning speed shot forward and punched the raven. The hit took Xanxus by surprise and this time, it was he who fell to the floor growling whilst Squalo backed away to a safe distance, preparing to defend himself.

If this was the rematch Xanxus was going to give him, then he'd better make the most of it. No weapons, just pure fist-fighting.

Xanxus got to his feet snarling as he wiped his mouth. Even now, Squalo couldn't help admiring how beautiful the raven was, his rage did nothing to stop that. Before Xanxus could properly prepare himself, Squalo seeing an opening launched a kick at the man's exposed ribs but the raven with inhuman reaction speed grabbed the shark's leg. The swordsman responded by jumping and kicking with his other leg which found its mark on Xanxus' face.

The raven lost his grip on Squalo's limb, allowing him to steadily land on both feet whilst the Vongola elite fell to the floor again with a crash. Squalo hastily bent down in attempt to pin Xanxus to the floor but the raven saw an opening and delivered an uppercut to Squalo's jaw. The shark stumbled back and yelled as Xanxus got to his feet.

The two men circled each other for a moment, catching their breath and planning their next assault. Squalo eyed the injuries he inflicted on the other man with pride but also grimaced at his own. Blood was flowing from his mouth down his chin, soaking the fabric of his black Vongola shirt but Xanxus was in no better condition.

The raven's face was contorted with fury, if he had not witnessed it, Squalo would not even believe that Xanxus could make such an expression. Everything about the look on his face told Squalo that Xanxus was fighting to kill him.

With this fact in mind, Squalo didn't dare hold back as he launched another round of punches and kicks. Every move had to be his best, every action to the fullest if he wanted any chance of defeating the man in front of him. Xanxus wasn't holding back either but Squalo could tell his movements were less controlled due to rage. Squalo suddenly realized that a calm, normal Xanxus was in fact more dangerous than the current one who was out of control and allowing his emotions to take over his better judgment.

He had to keep calm and analyze the situation carefully, let Xanxus' own rage backfire on him.

Xanxus suddenly feinted sideways but Squalo saw through, took his chance and grabbed Xanxus by his hair and slammed him face-first into the metal wall. Xanxus gave a rough shriek of frenzy that caused the hairs on the back of Squalo's neck to stand up. This was it, he had finally woken the beast.

Before Squalo could back away to a safer distance, Xanxus' arm shot upwards and his fingers stiffened around the swordsman's neck. Squalo felt himself get rammed against the wall, trapped with Xanxus' hand in a vice-like grip around his exposed neck. He brought both hands up in an attempt to reduce the tightness of the hold but it was futile, the shark felt himself struggling to breathe as Xanxus hand wound around tighter and tighter.

Squalo started to gasp for air and winced when he felt the hand around his neck grow hot. He looked at Xanxus' eyes but they were an empty red, soulless. _He was going to die…_

'No!' Squalo yelled, 'X-Xanxus!'

The shark tried to claw away the rough hand but Xanxus acted as though he hadn't heard and tightened his grip even further, a maniacal smile on his face as he tortured the swordsman. Squalo was starting to lose his vision, he barely had any awareness of his surroundings now, the only thing in his sight was Xanxus and his lifeless red eyes. _Fuck fuck fuck! _His legs wouldn't move, he was losing his strength, he couldn't defend himself.

The hand around his neck grew hotter and hotter until Squalo realized he was about to meet the same fate as that Vongola maid. Xanxus was going to burn his head off.

In a desperate attempt to send Xanxus back into his senses, Squalo moved his hand up to Xanxus' cheek with his final effort and pinched. It wasn't an attack, Squalo never intended it to be. The shark didn't let go but continued to pinch.

The gesture took Xanxus by surprise and the small pain he felt from it froze him in his senses. Abruptly, he let go of his grip, allowing the swordsman to collapse onto the floor coughing. Squalo felt a tinge of happiness at the success of his pinch and he drank the bountiful air with every ounce of energy he had in his body. Slowly, he lifted his head up to look at the raven.

Xanxus was standing still, eyes wide with shock and confusion as he looked at Squalo's vulnerable figure sitting against the wall. Squalo was relieved to see that Xanxus was back to normal, the blood red eyes were now the same ones he knew. However, the small joy he felt at the sight of a sane Xanxus did not diminish the pain of the injuries on his body. He could barely move and was probably going to die of loss of blood soon. The multitude of blows they exchanged covered his body with fresh purple bruises which had only begun to ache.

They made eye contact, silver against red. Xanxus seemed to be trying to comprehend what he just did.

'You…Squalo…' he murmured. Xanxus' eyes were full of concern as he stared down at Squalo.

The swordsman glared back with as much contempt as he could muster, he could see regret and shame in those scarlet orbs but it did not stop his wounds from throbbing.

Xanxus shook his head as if trying to deny what had just happened, trying to deny that he had lost his temper and hurt Squalo during the process. Growling, he turned and walked away without a backward glance, sorrow and guilt building up in his abdomen.

Squalo watched as Xanxus left before closing his eyes to contemplate everything that had just happened.

The adrenaline rush from the fight had evaporated and left him with a sense of emptiness that he tried to ignore.

So this was the man he had sworn himself to. This was part of him, the other side of him that Squalo didn't know about. This was completely different to what he was used to and now he understood exactly why everyone in the Vongola looked at Xanxus in fear.

And this was what he had meant to Xanxus all this time…_nothing_.

Xanxus didn't even hesitate when he was about to deal the finishing blow. All the moments they shared, the kisses, hugs, fights, training sessions and everything else meant nothing. Xanxus was still able to straightforwardly burn his head off with a touch of his finger and this left a sick feeling Squalo. It also lead Squalo to ask himself a question, the same question he had asked himself a hundred times.

Did he regret helping Xanxus?

_No_. The same answer every single time.

Squalo slowly opened his eyes and got to his feet, ignoring the aching wounds over his body. He mustered the strength to walk out of the training area and towards the elevator. He couldn't lie to himself. He never once regret helping Xanxus out of the Grid cells and even after witnessing the worst side of him he still couldn't regret it. The anger Xanxus displayed, instead of diminishing the attraction Squalo felt toward him only deepened it. The rage was alluring, it shook him and he wanted more.

Did this mean that he…_loved_ Xanxus? Squalo scowled and punched the nearby wall out of frustration. Maybe he did love Xanxus, but he wasn't going to let that make him weak. He was still going to kill Taros and fulfill their promise, he was going to fight until his last breath for Xanxus. Squalo would do many things but he would not go back on a promise, especially one that was made to the raven.

He didn't care if he was trash to that man, just like the rest of them. There was a reason why he decided to follow him in the first place and he was going to prove that Xanxus needed him. He wanted strength, and Xanxus would make him stronger, that was all the reason he required.

Slowly but determinedly, Squalo walked into the elevator, heading towards the infirmary on the lowest floor. He was going to force the healers to let him in if he had to, the wounds were really irritating him. When he reached the healing area, Dino bumped into him.

'Squalo! What the heck happened to you?' Dino exclaimed, eying the swordsman up and down.

Squalo ignored him and walked on.

'Wait, it was Xanxus wasn't it?'

Squalo nodded and Dino gave a small sigh.

'I told you, that guy is unpredictable. He should –'

'If you bad-mouth him, I'll fucking kill you,' Squalo growled menacingly. Dino looked surprised but smiled nevertheless and accompanied Squalo into the healing area. Yamamoto was lying on one of the beds and talking to Gokudera, there were other Vongola men lying around scattered in beds. Dino told one of the healers to laser-treat his wounds and she complied.

After Squalo was completely treated, he sat down in the seat next to Yamamoto's bed with Dino.

'I don't know much about him,' Dino admitted.

'Voii, Xanxus?'

'Yeah,' he replied, 'he's a mystery to all of us. I've heard rumors about his childhood though and how he got into Vongola but they're just rumors. Reborn's told me a little about him but even he doesn't know much.'

Squalo was immensely interested so Dino continued.

'All I know is that he killed his father out of hatred when he was a teenager. That's how he got those scars, his father inflicted those wounds with flames during the fight.'

'What was his father like?'

'No idea,' Dino shrugged, 'no one knows why he killed him though.'

The idea of Xanxus killing his own father didn't surprise Squalo.

'Voii, what else do you know about him?'

'Nothing else, I've heard rumors that he's not even human but I doubt they're true.'

Squalo nodded, turning his attention to Yamamoto now.

'Oi, katana brat. What the fuck happened to you this mission? Explain yourself!'

Before Yamamoto could answer, the door flew open and a group of people walked in. Squalo recognized them as Xanxus' Varia squad, finally returned from their mission this morning. Something was wrong however, there were people missing.

Getting to his feet, he ran towards them and his heart flipped as he saw Bel looking bloody and carrying an unconscious Fran.

'VOII, Fran!' Squalo yelled, causing a few heads to look his way. Bel looked ruffled and there was no sign of that childhood playfulness that graced his face usually. When he saw that Squalo was going to yell again, he quickly explained the situation.

'He's fine, just unconscious.'

Squalo, relieved, looked around for Lussuria but when he couldn't spot the colorful man anywhere, dread filled him again.

'Where's Lussuria?' He exclaimed. Levi answered this time.

'The flamboyant one? He was captured by Grid.'

-TBC-

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><p><strong>[AN]** - Sorry about the (relatively) short chapter. And don't worry, we all know Xanxus loves Squalo to death.

Like I said, the next one should be coming soon.


	7. Failure and Forgiveness

**[A/N] -  
><strong>Yo guys, a present for you all! This chapter was done waaay earlier than I had anticipated.

However...the one after this will probably (_most likely_) be a monster and wouldn't be up for a month at least. Oh well, enjoy this one (hopefully).

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7 - Failure and Forgiveness<strong>

'VOIII! Fran! Wake Up!' Squalo yelled at the unconscious boy on the infirmary bed.

When the illusionist did not respond, Squalo grabbed him by the shoulders and shook. He didn't have time for this, he needed to know what had happened during the mission. They told him that they had lost Lussuria, that he was captured, taken by the worst possible enemy. The thought of Taros or even another A-class whipping Lussuria suddenly flashed across Squalo's mind and he shuddered.

'Oi swordsman, you're waking everyone with your screaming' Levi said.

'Fuck!' Squalo turned around to snap at the tall man instead when Fran still didn't wake up, 'I don't give a shit!'

Lussuria, taken by Grid? How could this have occurred? Impossible, absolutely impossible. Squalo refused to believe it.

Bel strode over to Levi, bangs covered his eyes completely but Squalo could sense that he was tense about something, like there was a grim outcome awaiting him. The two Varia men exchanged dark looks, as if deciding between themselves who was going to take that fate. Squalo had never seen them looking so…_scared_.

'Ushishishi,' Bel gave an unconvincing fake laugh in a vain attempt to hide his apprehension, 'I'll go…report to boss.'

Levi sighed and shook his head.

'No, we'll go together,' his voice quivered slightly. Squalo could hear it; there was fear in their tones.

'The prince doesn't need help from normal people like you,' Bel replied, 'besides, I was the one appointed as the leader of the mission. It's my responsibility.'

Levi nodded respectfully, looking half relieved and half reluctant as Bel walked slowly out of the healing area to tell Xanxus the outcome of their mission.

Squalo understood why they were so fearful previously, he wondered how Xanxus would react upon hearing that his men had failed a mission. He wondered if the raven even accepted failure. However he couldn't spare a thought about Bel or Xanxus right now, the truth that Lussuria was in the hands of Grid hit him again. A tense silence enveloped the room, Squalo twined his fingers through his short spiky hair to relieve some stress.

Fran shuffled slightly on the bed and his eyes fluttered open. He sat up, looking dazed at his surroundings but when he caught sight of Squalo, the illusionist gave a gasp.

'Master.'

Squalo's eyes snapped open at Fran's voice, a million questions popped into his head at once. He started with the simplest.

'Fran you little shit,' he whispered urgently, 'what happened?'

Levi stalked over and glared at Fran.

'Kid, you have a load of explaining to do,' the tall man sounded extremely angry.

'Voi, I'm asking questions here fucker,' Squalo snarled. Levi shrugged and leaned on the wall behind them.

'If you want to know what happened, I can help you. This little kid screwed us up pretty bad, I'll start there.'

Fran looked ashamed at this statement and hung his head although his expression remained impassive.

'I'm sorry,' his monotone vibrated through the area.

'Sorry isn't going to stop boss from punishing you and the rest of us,' Levi growled, 'you have no idea what he does to people who fail him.'

Fran mumbled inaudibly but only Squalo could detect real shame. The boy never had a problem voicing his own opinion even in times when he was wrong but he rarely had moments where he lacked words to defend himself. This only fed Squalo's desire to know what had happened and what went wrong.

'On with this shit!' He exclaimed, 'you can blame Fran all you want but that won't change anything.'

Levi rolled his eyes.

'Answer my damn question,' Squalo continued, 'What was your mission and what happened?'

'We were assigned to assassinate a high ranking noble named Thainun III, you've probably heard of him seeing that you're an ex Grid hunter. Am I right?'

Squalo nodded_. Thainun_, the name was widely known amongst Grid.

'Voi, of course. He's their biggest financial support, pays more than seventy percent of all the funds. That's a bold move by Vongola, I can't believe they only sent you Varia to do the mission.'

'We're highly trained assassins,' Levi sneered, 'the Varia squad alone would be enough for this as _difficult_ as it sounds. We needed to go in, kill the noble and return without a trace or indication that we were there. That kind of thing we are qualified to do.'

Squalo couldn't help admiring the level of skill Xanxus' men had. He also understood now why Xanxus wasn't allowed to go on this mission, his destructive abilities would not have helped the slightest in this intricate assassination plan.

'He's an important figure for the stabilization of Grid's name, which inconveniently means he will be surrounded by body guards wherever he goes. Today he was at an outing with his scummy noble acquaintances like we expected. We chose this occasion because it brought Thainun out into the open where we could easily kill him and escape.'

'Yeah,' replied Squalo following on, 'why couldn't you guys just kill him in his palace?'

'Stupid question,' Levi spat disdainfully, 'why can't we just kill the axel in his palace?'

Squalo bared his teeth upon realizing his idiocy and said no more so Levi continued.

'Everything was going to plan, we were able to sneak into the outing and establish an appropriate position for ourselves before the kill. This kid's illusions hid us well. When we were about deliver the blow however…' Levi glanced at Fran, 'the illusions stopped, revealing us to all the nobles at the gathering. Explain yourself kid.'

'I got distracted,' Fran said boldly. Squalo was glad to hear confidence behind that monotone. 'T-there was a robot-tiger nearby, a few metres from me, some noble's pet. I think it could see me so I was worried. I've never seen anything like it, it was half real and half artificial…'

'So you decided to get us all killed because you were interested in some robotic animal,' Levi growled in disbelief.

'Voii he's a kid, shit like that's going to scare him,' said Squalo, sparing Fran. _He has every right to be scared_. Squalo hasn't forgotten what cyborg animals like that could do, remembering the incident at the axel's party. Levi ignored this and continued.

'Bel as a last attempt tried to kill Thainun then but they blocked his attack. We had no choice but to run, we didn't stand a chance against that many grid hunters at the scene. If we had boss with us…we could have fought back. I bought us time though, enough so that we could get back onto the van. But they were well prepared too, we had to fight our way back on.'

'I don't remember anything that well during that time,' commented Fran from his bed, 'I think I lost consciousness, I remember seeing Lussuria watching me –'

'You were knocked on the head by a grid hunter whilst you were getting on the van,' interrupted Levi, 'they dragged you out and we couldn't afford to stay back to save you. That's when the flamboyant one jumped off and killed the nobles who had you. He threw you to us and told us to keep you safe.'

'Lussuria saved me?'

'Yeah, you were safe back on the van but he couldn't get back in time, the grid hunters ganged up on him and took him down. We couldn't afford to wait so we left without him. It was a miracle we even got back here, without your illusions we had to outrun all the Grid cars chasing us.'

'Lussuria…he…sacrificed himself so that I could get back…' Fran's voice was quiet.

'Voii! Are you telling me that he's dead?' Squalo yelled, unable to stop the despair that was overtaking his body.

'No, he was still alive when they caught him, but I bet he'll die soon under their hands.'

'Fuck!' Squalo screamed, 'I'm going to get him back!'

Levi gave a harsh laugh when Squalo mentioned this and shook his head.

'Go ahead, but don't expect Vongola to help you,' he proclaimed sardonically, 'he's probably locked up right now but Grid won't just let you walk him and take him away would they?'

Squalo ignored him and proceeded to walk towards the door, eager to let Tsuna know about his plans.

'They'll never let you!' Levi called.

_Fuck, let them try and stop him_. Squalo kept on walking before a cold, hard voice halted him.

'Superbi Squalo, sit back down.'

Reborn appeared at the doorway, followed to Tsuna who was panting and looking worried. Squalo gave a snarl at the sight of Vongola's two leading members and reluctantly walked back to his seat.

'We know what happened,' said Tsuna, 'please calm down Squalo.'

Squalo gave an inaudible growl and sat down feeling agitated. Every minute they wasted here, Lussuria was probably being tortured. But no, he wouldn't be killed, not yet. Squalo was used to Grid's killing procedures, they rarely killed their victims so soon, not when they could torture information out of them. Xanxus was an exception considering the dangerous crime he had committed but Lussuria was just like any Vongola prisoner they caught. He would be kept alive, and that thought allowed Squalo to calm down just a little.

Even if he was going to be tortured in the most gruesome way possible, he would still be alive and that's essentially all that mattered for now.

'That guy, Lussuria, I know he's a good friend of yours,' Tsuna started, 'but you can't just barge into Grid's headquarters like this –'

'You wanna try and stop-'

'Squalo,' Reborn interrupted, 'they'll be expecting you. You've worked for Grid, you know them better than we do. You should know that they can easily track down from Lussuria's records and find out that he is a close 'accomplice' of yours. They'll use him as a bait to draw you out.'

'The hell do I care?' Squalo retorted, 'you expect me to sit here while he gets killed? He saved my life before when I was being sold at the auction, I owe him one.'

'You have no choice,' Reborn's tone was firm, 'we can't afford to involve Vongola in this, not when the chance for a trap is so great.'

'If I go by myself, what business of that is yours?' asked Squalo, 'I'm not trying to involve Vongola in anything, this shit is personal.'

'You're a good fighter, your strength is essential for the main attack in one months time. We definitely can't afford to lose you.'

'Squalo, please think this through,' comforted Tsuna, 'don't let Lussuria's sacrifice be a waste.'

They stood up and left, Levi followed them. Before Reborn walked out the door however, he turned around and gave a warning.

'Don't attempt anything.'

Squalo didn't reply but watched as the infant strolled out of the healing area. The swordsman looked around the place, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Dino had left for dinner earlier, Yamamoto had made a speedy recovery thanks to the laser. It was only him and Fran in the place.

'Fran,' he said, 'are you with me?'

The boy nodded determinedly much to Squalo's content.

'Good…because we're going to save Lussuria.'

Fran didn't voice any complaints and nodded a second time however he looked apprehensive about something.

'Master.'

'Yeah?'

'Is big scary man really going to kill me?' He asked apathetically but Squalo could see desperation behind those green eyes.

'He might,' Squalo decided it was best to tell the truth, there was no point in giving any Fran false hope by sugar-coating the facts. 'But if he does, I'll stop him."

Xanxus was capable of killing anything and anyone without a second thought, Squalo had learnt that the hard way. Fran continued to have the worried gleam in his eye despite Squalo's reassuring words, it was as if he knew Squalo couldn't truly stop Xanxus.'

'Will it be painful?'

'Voii, I doubt he'll really kill you, Vongola needs illusionists like you, he'll probably just beat you up or something.'

Fran nodded slowly.

'It's really my fault that Lussuria got captured -'

'Stop blaming yourself idiot!' Squalo gave him a hard punch in the face, 'it pisses me off.'

'Sorry violent master,' Fran replied, massaging his cheek.

'Fuck, stop worrying about everything. We'll get him back.'

'How?'

'I don't fucking know damnit! But we have to hurry, those bastards will kill him if we don't act soon.'

'Master, let's meet at the entrance tomorrow. We'll go just the two of us.'

Squalo paused at the firmness of Fran's voice and nodded for him to continue.

'I'll hide us and we'll get him back that way. You know your way through the Grid buildings. I promise I won't screw up my illusions this time.'

Squalo gave a large shark-like grin, this was what he liked about Fran. When he himself couldn't make up his mind, Fran would intervene and decide for him.

'Voi, then we're settled. I'll see you at the entrance tomorrow, you better fucking get a good rest kid.'

Squalo got up and left for his room, thinking hard. Fran had made it sound so simple but he knew there were hidden complications in their 'plan'. He didn't care though, he'll worry about those later. Reaching his room, he pulled his clothes off and jumped into the shower for a quick wash. Afterward he lay in bed quietly and formulated various plans in his mind. He didn't notice his eyes closing slowly due to his fatigue.

When he slept, he dreamt that Xanxus had not beaten him up and was lying beside him, squished up on his tiny bed.

~x.x.x.x.x~

The next day Squalo woke up late and skipped breakfast in the hopes of leaving as soon as possible. Fran should be completely recovered now, after all he had sustained minor injuries from the previous day's failure. The swordsman quickly made his way up the floors and onto the first floor, trying to find the illusionist. His pace sped up second after second before he ran full on into another Vongola member when turning a sharp corner.

'Hey Squalo,' the 'member' turned out to be Yamamoto who was heading down for breakfast.

'Move katana brat,' Squalo walked on, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

'Wait Squalo, you're going to save your friend right?'

'What did you say?' Squalo froze mid-step, turned around and glared in shock. _Did he hear them yesterday?_

'I knew it,' Yamamoto smiled, 'Dino heard from Reborn yesterday about the results of Varia's mission and he told us. I knew you'd try and save him.'

Squalo brushed away his surprise at this remark.

'Whatever, do me a favour and don't tell anyone –'

'I'll help you if you want.'

'What?' Squalo couldn't believe his ears.

'I'll come with you, I know how you feel. If one of my friends got captured I'd do the same.'

'Voii, don't be stupid brat, if your boss finds out he'll have your head.'

'Haha, he won't know then.'

Squalo couldn't find any reply to this so he told Yamamoto his plans to set out with Fran. He secretly appreciated Yamamoto's will to help, he had to admit he needed all the assistance that he could get with this task. The two swordsmen walked quickly to the entrance of the headquarters, Squalo's nervousness growing stronger every passing minute.

When they reached the entrance however, Fran wasn't the only one waiting for them. Bel was standing next to him casually, and Levi next to him. They looked up in recognition when Squalo arrived but the shark paid them no attention for his focus was on the looming figure standing in front of them, the jet black hair, red eyes and dangling feathers. The black cotton Vongola shirt looked the same as usual, as did the leather pants and black boots.

The two men stared at each other for a long while, it felt like years since they last did. Squalo looked into those red orbs and they looked back at him the same way they always did, piercing his core, deep down into the recesses of his body. It was hard to imagine that the same eyes bore into him only a day ago with every trace of insanity, the soulless balls that could have been the last thing he ever saw.

'Voii, what are you doing here?' Squalo asked, determined to forget what had happened yesterday. He told himself that this was the man he loved, the man he had sworn to fight for. Everything Xanxus did to him did not and will not ever change that.

'Ushishishi, boss ordered us to come along,' Bel replied, draping an arm around Fran's shoulder in a brotherly manner.

'How did you know…' Squalo growled.

'Trash, you're too easy to read,' Xanxus replied. Squalo couldn't help feeling warm at hearing Xanxus' voice back to normal.

There was no time to waste, no time for Squalo to ask too many questions but he unwillingly spurt out the thought on his mind the moment he saw Xanxus.

'Why are you helping me?' He asked roughly, perhaps too defensively for Xanxus looked slightly ashamed again, but only Squalo could see it.

'I feel obliged to come,' Xanxus murmured. _Because I might lose you if I don't. _

'Whatever,' Squalo replied, attempting to withhold his gratitude.

'Be grateful to boss you scum!' Levi hollered indignantly, 'we have important information for you too. Lussuria is being held in the Eastern tower, they reported that on the croala yesterday.'

Squalo's eyes went wide at this information. Eastern Tower, that was the one furthest away from the Vongola headquarters but if Levi's information was true, it would save hours of pointless searching. The shark was personally familiar with the layout and structure of the three main landmarks of Grid but if he could focus his plans on one then the workload was exponentially lower.

'Hn, that's useful. They never told me that,' Squalo wondered if Reborn didn't mention this purposely to prevent him from leaving, 'we're going, we can't waste any more time.'

Squalo attempted to open the double doors but they wouldn't budge.

'Idiot, unauthorized scum aren't allowed to enter or leave,' Xanxus smirked before scanning his hand on the device next to the doors. They slid open soundlessly and the six Vongola members walked out quickly. Xanxus led them to a large hidden area containing rows and rows of empty hover-crafts. Squalo followed him without complaint knowing that the raven dealt with these things better than he did.

On the way to the Varia's private hover-van, Byakuran appeared walking back to the headquarters looking satisfied with something.

'Byakuran,' Yamamoto exclaimed, 'where have you been?'

'Noble hunting~,' the white haired man smiled in a carefree way.

'Haha, you never listen to Tsuna do you?' Commented Yamamoto bringing another smile onto Byakuran's face.

The cheerful squad leader eyed the group in interestedly.

'And where are you kids off to?' He asked.

'Personal shit,' the raven replied brusquely, 'tell the Arcobaleno not to bother me.'

'Oya, don't order me around Xanxus,' he laughed, 'but sure, I'll let them know…if I feel like it.'

Byakuran stalked off, leaving Squalo's crew alone again near the Varia hover-van. Levi abruptly took responsibility of the wheel and they blasted off without further hesitation.

Squalo was nervous, the presence of extra individuals did nothing to alleviate that. There were so many things that could go wrong, even if they found Lussuria, how were they supposed to break him out without arousing the Grid hunters?

The team scattered around the van. The vehicle was evidently of higher quality than just a regular Vongola van, there were additional facilities and rooms which suited their enigmatic profession. Squalo found himself wandering around alone, slowly trying to piece up a scheme so they weren't all heading to their deaths. He found a small weapon storeroom and walked in, observing the loot the Varia had collected on previous missions without any thought on what he was doing.

'Got a plan trash?'

Squalo was surprised that he didn't jump after hearing that husky voice.

'I'm thinking dumbass,' he replied sharply without turning his head. _The eastern tower…_He didn't really need much of a detailed strategy, it was simpler than the main building, Fran's illusions will be enough to hide all six of them. The real trouble will be sticking together and not giving their position away, invisibility from the mist could only fool the vision after all. There will be hunters walking around, it would certainly reveal them if one bumped into a seemingly invisible wall.

'Voii, the key is to stick together,' Squalo said turning around to face Xanxus, 'I'm going to explain to everyone how the towers work and shit, the rest depends on our luck.'

Xanxus made no comment to this decision for his mind was on other matters. When Squalo was about to leave the room, the raven held him back, gripping his arm tightly. The silver haired man looked at him questioningly so he decided to get to the point quickly.

'Do you still fight for me?' He was alone with Squalo, the rest of the team were most likely lounging around the center area and out of earshot but the question escaped his lips in a whisper nevertheless.

Squalo hid his surprise effortlessly, if he wasn't mistaken Xanxus sounded doubtful of the oath he swore previously.

'Why the fuck wouldn't I?' Squalo snapped impatiently. Normally he would have been content with the notion of Xanxus worried about losing him but right now, the gesture from the raven instead of making him happier only induced anger and irritation. This was no time for someone like Xanxus to be showing any weaknesses, Squalo needed everyone at their best if they were to succeed.

Xanxus still looked uncertain which only seemed to irritate the swordsman even more. Did Xanxus think that he would back down only after one beating?

Before Squalo could properly think about what he was doing, he gripped the back of Xanxus' head and forced their lips together with a crash. The shark found himself gnawing against the raven's teeth, trying to force some strength back into Xanxus. The kiss was not for affection, it was not a reinforcement of Squalo's previous remark. It was solely for the purpose of snapping Xanxus back into his proper self, preparing him for the upcoming battle.

Of all the kisses they shared, this one was by far the most violent and unruly. When Xanxus was kissing him back with equal savageness, Squalo broke them apart, glad that his message had gone across.

'Stop acting beside yourself,' Squalo hissed, not removing his hold on Xanxus' head. Their faces were still inches apart from each other, their breath mingling.

'Don't get cocky you piece of shit,' Xanxus' eyes gleamed malevolently behind his thick dark lashes. He looked angry and pissed at what Squalo just did but the shark was content with the fact that Xanxus was now back into his authoritative demeanor.

Xanxus had revealed his fragility before the storm, in war this would mean death.

Squalo, satisfied and confident that Xanxus was now focused on their task, walked out of the weapon store and to the lounge area where everyone was sitting. The raven followed him silently.

'Voii you guys,' he announced, 'here's what we're going to do.'

Squalo turned on the display board on the wall and grabbed a laser pen. He proceeded to draw a flat 2D image of the cross section of the Eastern tower, the floors and the general structure of each floor. Everyone, including Xanxus was watching intensively, absorbing the information that was presented.

'The Western and Eastern towers are mainly used as prisons for rebels, auction products and anything you can think of,' Squalo started to explain, 'Vongola members are predictably locked on the top floor and guarded with the most security, Voii!'

He made an X on the top floor of the diagram.

'This means we need to travel past 10 floors without being noticed. We'll be using the stairs as operating elevators will most likely give us away. Fran's illusions will hide us properly but even when there's no one in sight we shouldn't do anything rash! You don't know where the hidden cameras are located and I bet they'll be watching since they're already expecting me to make a move.'

'But Squalo –'

'Voii, no interruptions katana brat! The prison cells aren't as vindictive as those in the main building, we'll be able to identify what's locked up by looking through the door. Once we locate Lussuria on the top floor, the hard part starts…'

Squalo proceeded to zoom into the section of the topmost floor of his drawing.

'From memory, there are always around two hundred A-classes patrolling and working at each tower. However since they are most likely planning to ambush us this time, I'm willing to bet there's going to be twice that amount stationed there. This shouldn't be a problem either since they are spread out around the tower. The problem is the S-class that's assigned to each tower.'

'Normally, there will be four S-classes at the main building, one at the east tower and one at the west. Our S-class will no doubt be in his office which is inconveniently also located on the top floor of the building. The S-class' office is like the control room of the whole tower, the keys to Lussuria's cell if we're lucky should be in there.'

'Ushishishi, and it's my job to steal them correct?'

'That's right shitty brat, once we get up there you'll be looking for those keys. I don't care how you do it without drawing attention to yourself but you better not fucking fail. We'll lure the Grid hunter out if we need to.'

'Squalo, what happens if the S-class has the key?'

'Voi, in that case…we'll kill them and get the key.'

Nobody complained but Squalo knew they were doubtful of his plan. He didn't blame them though, he had multiple doubts too. There were so many loopholes, so many unprepared circumstances that could essentially destroy everything for them. It was suicidal and he was grateful for the fact that they were risking their lives to help his personal matters.

Why was _he_ of all people feeling scared now? Since when did he care about whether another person lived or died? For the first time in his life, Squalo felt responsible. Responsible for the lives of others, for Xanxus, Bel, Levi, Yamamoto and Fran. It was because of him that they were now heading down the impossible road, the path of hopelessness and despair. _How on earth was his plan supposed to actually work without one of them losing their lives in process?_

Squalo sat down and stared at the floor. He shouldn't have dragged them along, walking into the Eastern tower right now would be as dangerous as walking into the main building. Even if they did manage to unlock Lussuria from his chains, what then? The prison is one of the most heavily guarded, as soon as the door opens those on the top floor will be notified and they'll most likely have to fight their way out.

From the corner of his eye, Squalo could see Xanxus looking at him. Remembering what they did together a few moments ago, the shark found some strength within him to stop worrying about the problems that could occur. It allowed him to calmly sit through the rest of the long journey to the Eastern tower and gather his wits in order to lead the squad to success.

Levi parked the van a few hundred metres away from the actual tower so the group had to travel through the streets of the high district in order to reach the gigantic building. Despite having only ten floors, each floor was large enough for the building to stand out in both width and length from the surrounding monuments. With Fran's illusion steadily keeping them hidden, Squalo lead them inside the Eastern tower.

The first thing that greeted the group was _nothing_. No presence of any grid hunter or noble, the entrance hall was empty but the lights were surprisingly on, giving the spacious area a white neon glow. Squalo was struck dumb at the scene in front of him.

The computers were on, the air conditioning was on, all the machines were operating and functioning as usual but it seemed that there were no humans in sight. A sudden glorious thought occurred to Squalo, something that he had never considered before; the grid hunters could be having a meeting right now.

Such a notion wasn't unlikely at all, there were occasional meetings held in the hall underground and most of the time they were held in the morning. Excitement sparked at the pit of Squalo's stomach, all the evidence in the entrance hall supported the fact that every Grid hunter in the tower was currently being lectured right below them. He couldn't help grinning at his good timing.

His teammates were eying the strange scene in front of them with confusion.

'Voi…if I'm not mistaken, they're having a meeting right now. All of them,' he whispered loudly, answering their questioning looks.

They nodded their heads in comprehension, following Squalo as he half-ran toward the stairs. When the group reached the second floor, the same empty sight met them although all the prison cells were tightly locked and their subjects bound securely. Squalo felt hope at this sight for it was another indication of a meeting currently occuring.

There were various things kept in the cells, animals, people, cyborgs, mutated scientific experiments, things Squalo never dreamed existed. All his years working under Grid, he had only visited the two towers a few times and each time he didn't really bother properly observing what the towers held. He grimaced in distaste as the grotesque prisoners crawled around mindlessly in their separate cages.

A man with half his face hacked off and one metallic eye stared at them from within his cage. His face was distorted and unrecognizable, Squalo had the dreadful suspicion that he could see them but thankfully, he made no noise as they passed. There were animals too, some with sections of other animals forcefully attached to them, evidently the results of noble scientists' attempts to create new exotic species.

'Voii…don't touch anything,' he reminded them. Fran's illusions should definitely be strong enough to hide them from the cameras and luckily, Grid did not use microphones in their security system. They were able to speak but movement of any outside objects will reveal them to the cameras. Squalo's heart gave a leap as he saw a large hologram at the centre of the floor with his face and the words 'Wanted' projected underneath.

They walked on, he heard Xanxus grunt softly at the image of Squalo's face with his long silver strands from before. Squalo unconsciously dragged his hand up to nestle it through his cropped hair, feeling a small amount of emptiness as he thought of the locks that Taros had cut off. They found the stairs to the next floor and the next and the next and the next.

On the fifth floor Squalo couldn't help feeling that there was something dreadfully wrong, that he had somehow miscalculated but he quickly brushed those idiotic thoughts away. The experienced part of him ordered him to stay alert, but right now he couldn't think of anything that could go wrong unless the meeting suddenly ended. With even greater determination to find Lussuria quickly, Squalo started to run up the floors as quick as possible.

He was glad to hear that nobody complained, they ran with him up the tedious floors until they reached the topmost one. The party walked around the large floor looking through the cells, trying to spot any indication of Lussuria.

Squalo gave a jump when he saw purple feathers stick out of a rusty looking cage but was sorely disappointed when it only turned out to a strange looking bird. Noticing his disappointment, Xanxus grabbed his hair and told him to keep on looking. Nobody bothered to enter the S-class' office for the key yet, finding Lussuria right now was the priority.

'This is…' Yamamoto's voice rang loudly in the empty area.

The party looked at the source of Yamamoto's remark to find a Vongola man chained to the walls of his prison. He was unconscious and evidently starved, Squalo recognized him as one of the people that came on the failed mission with Mukuro.

'Leave him,' Levi said, 'we can't afford to take another person with us.'

The Vongola man's eyes fluttered open upon hearing the noise they made. He looked around desperately for any sign of life.

'Is anyone there?' He croaked. Squalo felt a twinge of guilt at the sight of him, this man was locked here due to his previous mistake too. He was certainly going to die a painful death, there was no help for him.

Yamamoto seemed to be on the verge of responding but held back the last second. He forced himself to move away from the dying man and the party continued to search for Lussuria. They walked slowly past the rows and rows of cells, many of them were empty and yet to be occupied but after the group completely finished looking on the floor, the flamboyant man was still no where to be seen. Squalo insisted that they look again for another round, in case they accidentally missed a cell and mistook it for an empty one.

However, after another cycle of searching they still did not see any trace of Lussuria. Dread started to fill Squalo again, they haven't skipped any section of the floor so why couldn't they find Lussuria? The group gathered around near the centre of the area, waiting for Squalo to decide the next step or perhaps explain the absence of their target.

'Voii…' Squalo tried to keep his voice calm to hide his worry, 'did anyone listen to the croala today? Have they executed him already?'

Bel shook his head firmly, 'definitely not, they clearly announced that he was held here.'

Squalo scrunched up his fists in frustration. The meeting could be ending any moment now and they haven't even gotten close to fulfilling their objective. Did he miss something? Was there an extra room or an extra floor? There couldn't be! He was confident that all Vongola personnel regardless of rank were always locked in the top floor under the highest security. Where the fuck else could they have put Lussuria?

'Master, what if they lied on the croala?' Asked Fran timidly, easily keeping his illusion in tact despite his nervousness.

'They could have, but I highly doubt it,' Yamamoto replied reassuringly, 'I don't see why they would lie to the high district about something like this.'

'Katana brat is right,' Squalo growled, 'they have no reason to fool the nobles. It's not like they know Vongola have access to the croala.'

The group fell silent again, trying to think of another explanation for the absence of Lussuria.

'Master,' Fran spoke up again, 'what if Lussuria's locked on another floor?'

'That seems to be the most likely case,' Levi commented, 'we were so busy trying to get up here we didn't actually search on the other floors did we?'

Squalo nodded, it was a logical thought. Plus, it was the only justification he could think of.

'Voii, the meeting could be ending soon so we need to hurry if we're going to search the other floors thoroughly. Fran, how long can you last?'

'This is nothing,' the green haired boy declared with such confidence that Squalo had no second thoughts about his abilities.

'Hmm, if we're going back down, shouldn't we try and find the keys here?' Remarked Bel, 'the main office should be nearby right? Saves us from coming back up.'

Everyone agreed on this so Squalo lead them to another set of stairs leading to the large room in the corner, the only place on the floor they haven't touched. From afar, he could see bright light coming from the open double doors and paused.

'The lights are on,' whispered Yamamoto, 'is there someone in there?'

Squalo saw Fran focus harder on his illusions to ascertain their invisibility. When the boy nodded in his direction, the shark saw the sign to approach the open doors of the S-class' office, the control room of the Eastern tower. The group entered the large well-lit room together and stopped in their tracks when they walked into the light.

Bel's grin slid off his face at the sight in front of him, he quickly glanced around the place as if looking rapidly for something. There was total silence as everyone stared at what was placed in the room, or more like what has become of the office. Squalo heard Xanxus curse softly beside him but his mind was too occupied in its own sense to pay attention anything else around him.

Blood and gore were splattered across the ceiling, the walls, the furniture, covering every surface there was. The desk was turned over, the machines were broken with sparks flying feebly from them. Papers and documents lay scattered everywhere, dyed red with blood, everything was a mess. The office was reduced to a state beyond recognition.

Squalo felt his legs grow numb but they held him up solidly, much to his surprise. A chill shot in every bone in his body as he stared at what was placed at the centre of the room. He felt as though every last fire in his body was put out, every hope and dream taken from him. His blood was cold, everything was cold, freezing and he was falling deep into an endless pit of something…nothing.

Limbs were scattered across the floor, Squalo paid little attention to those. At that moment nothing in the world could disconnect his eyes from the object on the tip of a metal pike, stuck into the ground and standing upright in front of the group. It was Lussuria's head, heavily deformed but identifiable, pierced through with a sharp metal stick and sticking up from the floor for all to see.

He heard Fran give two choking gasps behind him but the sound instead of waking him from the nightmare only reinforced the reality of it. He blinked, once, twice, trying to clear his mind, the fuzziness that suddenly overtook his senses. Lussuria's hollow eye sockets stared back at Squalo from its position on the metal pike, his lifeless face was scarred and bloody. The vision flashed, pierced through Squalo's mental barriers and imprinted itself onto the walls of his mind.

Squalo didn't know when his body started to shake furiously, helplessly. He realized that the scattered limbs and body parts around the room must have also belonged to Lussuria. _Lussuria_…the name sounded so familiar. Was he losing his mind?

What was their objective again? Why were they here? _Where_ exactly were they? Squalo forgot, his mind suddenly felt too small to remember such unimportant details. All he could see and comprehend was the horrific scene in front of him, staring him in the face. His past did not exist, his future would never come, everything that had occurred prior to now was an illusion, everything that was about to happen will be a dream. The only truth was Lussuria's head, his empty eye sockets, his grotesquely deformed limbs, scattered around a place with a name he had forgotten.

This was the ultimate revenge executed by Grid, and no doubt he knew who was behind this…_Taros_.

The name which normally stirred hatred and anger in Squalo's body refused to work its charm this moment. _Who is Taros? Did it even matter anymore? What's Grid? _

Squalo was still cold, wet, freezing. Somewhere inside him a load of sorrow was building up but he ignored it, it only strengthened the coldness he felt, he disliked it. If he remembered correctly, there were others who came with him, _came with him where_? Why were they here? Who were they? Squalo felt a small link to his surroundings but he struggled to grasp and recognize the figures beside him.

Another small part of him which had snapped back to reality was the only connection he found to the people in the room. The rest of him was trapped in icy water, numb and oblivious to anything but Lussuria's head at the centre of the room. His blood, his mutilated body parts, decorations for the room. The fuzziness in his body grew, the coldness was taking over. Squalo felt as though he was going to die, he was falling into a hole full of nothing, falling, falling….

A warm hand grabbed his wrist and Squalo suddenly felt some of the ice inside him melt. Another hand forced him to look into two deep red eyes and he complied, staring at those fiery orbs as if he'd never seen them before. It gave him warmth, allowed him to wake up even just a little bit from his mental block. He heard people talking around him but his gaze never left Xanxus' eyes.

Those eyes seemed so familiar. Did they represent all the memories and experiences he possessed before now?

'Boss…' Levi's voice was dead serious, 'there are bombs everywhere…'

The sound flowed through his ears and out the other end of his head, whatever they were talking about didn't matter to Squalo. Nothing made any sense anymore. Xanxus suddenly removed his ruby eyes and the shark felt as if a bucket of ice cold water was splashed onto him, he shivered violently.

'What did you say?' Xanxus growled, hearing that voice calmed Squalo down slightly.

'I see, there are cameras in here,' Yamamoto said slowly, forcing the words out.

'They've hidden bombs everywhere in this room,' Levi explained, 'ready to be detonated, it's a trap, we need to leave _now_.'

'Froggy!' Bel yelled, looking uneasily at Fran whose green eyes were blank and empty, wide with shock.

'Shit, froggy you need to keep your illusions up!' Bel shook him slowly, trying to get the boy to snap back into his senses but it was futile. Fran blinked so show that he had heard but his body seemed immobilized.

'Squad-A brat, are you hanging there?' Levi asked Yamamoto who looked distraught but nodded determinedly. Levi then turned to Fran and Bel.

'Bel, he's suffered a huge mental blow but I think his illusion is still here, it explains why they haven't blown everything apart yet,' Levi asserted, 'we need to get out of here, the kid can't hold on forever.'

Squalo couldn't understand what they were saying, none of it shaped into meaning in his mind._ Bomb? What bomb? There's only Lussuria's head…Lussuria's…head._

Suddenly, he felt himself being lead out of the nightmarish room and back to the top floor with the jail cells. He couldn't control his body, his movements were stiff and many times he felt close to collapsing but every time he did, Xanxus would pull him back up and support him. _Xanxus? Who is Xanxus? _

The name seemed to answer all the questions his mind screamed at him. His heart told him that Xanxus was the only person he could trust right now, so Squalo listened to his heart and followed this _Xanxus_ down the numerous stairs. He didn't know where they were leading him, or if he was even being lead anywhere.

Squalo saw himself get lifted up by a pair of strong arms, his feet removed from the floor. Xanxus was carrying him whilst running, determined to escape the building. The shark didn't struggle against the warm arms that were wrapped around him, on the contrary he relaxed his body, savoring the heat they gave off. The ice around his mind was slowly defrosting from this heat, he was slowly falling back to earth.

'X-Xanxus…' Squalo whispered, unable to find another word to say. Hearing his own voice gave him a small sense of reality which he was determined to hold onto.

'Shut up.'

Squalo obeyed, letting the other man carry him onto the hover-van. Lussuria's head on the pike visited his mind again and the swordsman felt himself go stiff. Xanxus threw him onto an empty seat before ordering Levi to take off a full speed. Yamamoto, Bel and Fran were safely on the vehicle already. Yamamoto was helping Bel take care of an unconscious and mentally worn out Fran in another room.

When he was certain that they were heading back and no Grid car was chasing them, Xanxus stalked over and took the seat right next to Squalo.

'Idiot shark,' he murmured softly next to Squalo's ear. Xanxus' warm breath next to his neck blew away the fog crowding around his mind.

'What happened?' Squalo asked in a stone cold voice, eyes staring straight ahead. The truth was unable to sink in yet, he didn't know why everything felt like a dream right now, he wanted a proper explanation and who better to explain the situation than Xanxus?

'They knew you'd come so they set up a trap to get you. We were saved by the frog's illusions.'

'I don't get it,' Squalo uttered with the same lifeless voice, 'what about the-'

'There was no meeting scum,' Xanxus growled next to him, 'they cleared out the tower, made it look like a meeting so that you'd let your guard down. They were waiting for you to reach the control room.'

Squalo shook his head in denial but Xanxus grabbed his face firmly with his hand, forcing the shark to look into his eyes.

'They set up cameras in the control room and they hid a load of bombs too. When you appear, the cameras would notify those at the main building so that they can activate those bombs and kill you. The boy's illusions managed to fool those cameras, so Grid were not aware of the fact that we came.'

Squalo sat in silence, trying to understand the situation. Xanxus' eyes were so mesmerizing, they snapped some sense into him.

'How…is…Fran…' he managed to croak slowly.

'Kid is tough as shit,' Xanxus replied abruptly before taking Squalo's chin and bringing their lips together. The raven was kissing him softly as if begging him to recover quickly but the shark only sat there, stoned and unable to kiss back. He took what Xanxus gave to him but couldn't offer anything in return. Nothing could stop the pain that had accumulated the moment they entered the control office.

Everything in his mind was blank, numbed by pain, sorrow and other emotions that he had never felt before. Through the whole trip back, Squalo sat in silence with Xanxus by his side, keeping him company. When they arrived back at the Vongola base, the shark felt no better.

'I'll go explain to them,' Yamamoto told the group when they entered the headquarters. The black haired swordsman walked off hurriedly to inform his superiors.

Levi and Bel took Fran down to the infirmary, leaving Squalo alone with Xanxus again.

Squalo took one step by himself, and another and another. He felt Xanxus following him but he didn't care. He had no idea where he was going or what his next plans were, thoughts were starting to appear in his blank slated mind one after the other. One moment he was walking down the deserted corridor and the next moment his feet had instinctively taken him to the place where he spent the most time during his stay with Vongola.

He looked at the racks and racks of weapons lined across the wall at the training grounds, the Vongola men training in small peer groups scattered across the area. Nothing was out of the ordinary for them.

Squalo's knees decided to give way and he fell to the floor with a crash, catching the attention of many people nearby. They stared at him for a moment before going back to their own business. Squalo attempted to get back up but he could only sit on the floor helpless. Why was his mind whirling with thoughts now?

'Squalo.'

Squalo's head jerked upward. _That's my name. _

'Lussuria is dead,' Xanxus declared with godlike finality. His ruby eyes shone with supremacy as he stared down at the broken shark.

_Lussuria. _

At the mention of Lussuria's name, something snapped inside Squalo's head. A flood of forgotten memories returned at once and his mind was overwhelmed with images. It was painful, Squalo grabbed his head with both hands and collapsed back onto the floor yelling.

Visions flashed through his head, racing like a sped up movie…

_He was at the auction house, he had just purchased Fran and Lussuria. 'Look Franny, our new master is a peasant like we are!' Lussuria tried to cheer a desolate Fran who was glaring at his new master with contempt, glaring at him. 'He's not my master,' Fran answered stubbornly. Squalo had beat the boy before Lussuria stopped him, attempting to reason with the kid. _

_._

_He was sitting at his dinner table now, a meal placed in front of him but he could tell that it was fake. Fran had tried to poison him for the first time. Nobody stopped him now when he punished the illusionist and when he was finished, Lussuria silently carried the small beaten body away into his chamber._

_._

_He was outside Fran's room having just returned early from work, he could hear his servants talking. 'I want to run away,' Fran said, unaware of his master's presence outside. 'Franny, master Squalo may be tough but he's much more forgiving than any noble we've had before. We should get to know him better…'_

_He didn't bother listening to the rest of their conversation._

_._

_He had just saved Fran's life from an A-class out in the streets. The boy had tried to run away, he was now staring at his master with shock and respect. There was fear his eyes too, fear and anticipation of his inevitable punishment. Fran didn't even complain when he was forcefully dragged back home by an extremely pissed Squalo, the shark still remembered Lussuria's face when he returned with an unharmed Fran that day. It was gratitude. _

_._

_He was lying on his bed sick and injured. The mission that day was too tough, he had bitten off more than he could chew. Fran and Lussuria were sitting beside him, keeping him company. They had entered his room without permission and were willingly taking care of him. He might have considered them friends that time…he can't remember._

_._

_He was looking at Fran who had bruises covering his face. He could see Lussuria, his expression of rage, the first time he had truly lost his temper. 'A bunch of noble guys caught me,' Fran told them meekly. Squalo felt himself getting angry too on behalf of someone other than himself. _

_._

_He was throwing a fit. Taros had embarrassed him at work and now, Squalo was taking it out on his servants. Lussuria looked terrified but took the beating obediently, Fran did too without complaint. Squalo ordered them to never show those pathetic expressions on their faces again. They complied. _

_._

_He was sitting with his servants, Xanxus was with them too. It was only a few days after the raven had arrived, Lussuria had taken him pretty well. Squalo couldn't remember what they were doing but Lussuria was laughing like crazy. _

_._

_He was at the Eastern Tower with five others. Lussuria's head was deformed and pierced through with a metal pike, standing upright in the middle of the control room. His eyes were gouged out, leaving behind empty dark eye sockets…_

_He was dead…_

…Lussuria was dead. Gone. Ripped apart like a rag doll.

'Fuck!' Squalo yelled, gripping his head tightly like it was about to explode. Something was drilling through the barriers of his mind, he wanted it to stop. Why were these memories appearing now?

He was starting to comprehend what had happened on the mission, his senses had finally returned. The reality of the situation was starting to sink in.

Grid had truly been prepared for him, they had succeeded in luring him out and had almost taken his life along with the lives of five others. Furthermore, they had subverted all his expectations by killing Lussuria mercilessly, he had heavily underestimated them.

People were looking at him disapprovingly for the ruckus he was making but he couldn't help it. The image of Lussuria's lifeless head refused to disappear from his mind, it horrified him, he wanted it to go away. It was a while before he realized that he was yelling and thrashing around at Xanxus' feet.

Exercising some self control, he forced himself to stop shouting and his erratic movements ceased. He sat up panting, lifting his head to face Xanxus.

'Voii…Xanxus…'

'He's gone trash,' Xanxus told him in a flat, emotionless voice, 'he's not coming back.'

Lussuria was really gone then, because Xanxus never lied. A volcano erupted inside him and out came all the emotions that were bottled up for the past few hours. Anger, regret, despair, fury and sorrow all burst out that moment and filled him with energy. He wanted to kill something, anything to vent out his pain.

Getting to his feet with eyes blazing with fury, Squalo screamed and punched the wall. He didn't care if he was going to break his fist by doing so; the physical pain was much more welcome than the emotional pain he was suffering right now. Anything was better than this.

'Fuck Xanxus! Kill me!' He screamed, not really knowing what he was saying. All the physical training he did still did not prevent him from feeling these weak emotions. He hated Grid for how well their plan worked at stimulating his worst side, he also hated himself for not being stronger to defeat those feelings. He ran around, smashing weapons together, overturning racks upon racks. People hurriedly moved out of the way as Squalo threw objects around, not caring how much it would cost Vongola to replace them.

His arms were bleeding, cut by the various sharp edges that he had touched. Squalo didn't care, after he had overturned all the weapon racks in his range, he proceeded to return to his wall-punching.

Xanxus grabbed his hand to prevent Squalo from damaging his fist any further. The scarred man watched him apathetically with no intention of interfering with the mental battle the shark was currently in the midst of. Squalo eyed him, desperately now. He looked to the ruby orbs that always seemed to provide him with strength.

'…help me…' Squalo's voice was shaky and weak, he had never heard himself sound so pathetic in his life. He had sworn before to never reveal this side of himself to anyone, much less all the Vongola members training in the same area. This was his final attempt, he was reduced to _begging_ Xanxus to take the pain away.

'I don't understand at all,' Xanxus' voice was firm, 'I can't help you.'

Squalo fell to his knees again upon hearing this. He appreciated what Xanxus was trying to tell him, this was a battle he had to fight alone. And if he wasn't strong enough to defeat the pain, he'll just have to accept it.

He saw a Vongola man approach him from the edge of his eye. Squalo knew he was going to get told off for creating such a mess in a public area but he wasn't going to take any lectures from _anyone_ right now. These idiots didn't know what had happened, they didn't know that Lussuria was gone and no longer with them, they just continued with their daily lives like nothing had happened. He knew they couldn't help it but it pissed him off to no end.

'Get out of here if you're not training,' the Vongola man said to Squalo, 'look at what you did!'

The people watching muttered in agreement but before any of them could voice their opinions, Xanxus grabbed the man's neck and lifted him close to his face.

'Fucking scum, do you have a problem?' Xanxus growled with calm fury. The crowd was silent and fearful, nobody dared oppose a Squad leader, especially if that leader was Xanxus himself. The people training whispered to themselves, backed away and returned to their previous business.

Squalo on the other hand was feeling dizzy again, he wanted to forget everything. Give away all his responsibilities because they were too hard, created too much of a burden.

Xanxus knelt down beside him and looked into his eyes again. Squalo saw gentleness that only Xanxus was capable of giving him and a small trace of worry.

'Idiot…' Xanxus whispered, cradling Squalo's face with one of his hands.

'Xanxus,' Squalo mumbled tiredly, taking hold of the hand on his face, living off its warmth.

'What do you want scum?' Xanxus asked, a little forcefully.

'I want Grid defeated,' Squalo replied confidently despite his fatigued state, 'I want them dead.'

With that, he lost consciousness in the raven's arms. Xanxus seemed satisfied with Squalo's response and scooped him up, carrying him out of the training area.

The shark was sleeping peacefully and Xanxus wanted to keep it that way. It was the best medicine for everything that had happened today. He walked on until he reached Squalo's room, kicked the door open and placed him gently on the small bed. Taking one last glance at the swordsman, Xanxus walked out and closed the door behind him.

It was at that moment a young Vongola boy was running towards him.

'Sir,' he squeaked, terrified of Xanxus, 'Tsuna wants to see the grid hunter.'

Xanxus paused. The brat wanted to see Squalo now, no doubt Yamamoto had explained everything to the higher ups.

'Tell him he can wait,' Xanxus replied.

'But-'

'I said the brat can wait.'

The boy was reluctant at first but his fear won in the end.

'G-got it,' he ran off in the opposite direction, leaving the Vongola elite alone outside of Squalo's room.

Xanxus sighed and leaned beside the door, intending to keep watch. Nobody was waking Squalo up to give him some petty lecture. The shark needed sleep in order to recover.

Xanxus was going to make sure he got that rest for now, it was the least he could do.

-TBC-

* * *

><p><strong>[AN]** - Please don't kill me. I'm sorry if this chapter shocked you/ (was not what you wanted). I had always intended Luss to die, Squalo needed to lose someone at the hands of Grid if he really is to improve.

Thank you for your lovely reviews. Any response whether long, short, good or bad makes me extremely happy.

I don't even care if you are flat out dissing my story or what, I'm grateful for any feedback. If you've read my story and given it a chance, I totally appreciate it (even if you didn't like the story).

The next 2 chapters will be the **final two chapters of the story**. Yep, this fic is ending in just two chapters. Be prepared to wait a while though.

_And Just a final question before it's over ..._  
>Who am I writing those next chapters for? I'm curious, who is actually reading this fic and is interested in the upcoming chapters?<p>

**I just need a heads up to get motivated**. Drop me off a PM/review if you are actually waiting for the end of this.

(I know there are a few people who have followed this since the beginning and I thank you sincerely because you guys have kept me going all this time.)


	8. Reason to be strong

**[A/N] -  
><strong>Penultimate chapter done! Yay, now there's only one more to go. We can pull through this!

To the fifteen or so people who responded to my plea in the previous chapter. This one is for you.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8 – Reason to be Strong<strong>

Squalo was walking, stumbling, gliding through a series of dark corridors, heading to a destination beyond his grasp. He was chasing and being chased, hunting but at the same time being hunted. He had been wandering door after door for what felt like hours without fulfilling his purpose, not that he knew what it was.

Everything was dark yet he could make out a faint glow of a pathway ahead. He broke into a run, desperate to reach the welcoming light that shone ever so tauntingly. He sped up his pace but the light was getting further and further, not intending to wait for him. The light suddenly disappeared and intense pain shot through every nerve in his body as Squalo crashed into an invisible wall in front of him.

Feeling the solid barrier in front of him, he realized that he had reached a dead end in this endless maze. Abruptly his lungs began to contract, refusing to draw breath for him and the swordsman felt as though a seal had been placed over his mouth. Clutching his throat desperately, he turned around and began to make his way back to where he started in the hopes of finding another lit up path.

An unknown figure on the floor tripped him as he walked and Squalo fell to the icy floor with a resounding crash. Crawling to his knees, he gave an inaudible gasp, a quiet scream of horror as he saw what had tripped him.

Xanxus body was reduced to a bloody mess on the ground, lifeless and cold. The man did not move as he lay slumped face down into the hard metallic floor. Squalo wanted to yell and call Xanxus' name but his voice did not respond to his orders. He closed his eyes and shook his head rapidly, as if doing so would brush away the image in front of him.

When he opened his eyes Xanxus' body had disappeared and instead Lussuria's head on a metal pike was in front of him. Squalo uttered a silent yell and screwed his eyes shut again, desperate to hide the sight. _Not that, anything but that…_

Squalo gave a sudden jerk and opened his eyes again but this time, his senses had returned to him. He was panting and sweating slightly but the pitch black maze was no longer surrounding him. He was lying on a large bed, his arms were gripping a warm body tightly next to him. Looking around, a wave of relief swept over him as he saw Xanxus' deep red eyes staring at him.

He realized that the vice-like grip he placed on Xanxus had woken the other man up and looked away, a faint hue of a blush gracing his cheeks. Nevertheless, he couldn't help grinning with relief that what he witnessed a minute ago was only a dream. The same dream that had been visiting his mind every night for the past month after Lussuria's death.

'Voii, I woke you up again?' Squalo whispered, attempting to sound apologetic.

The raven grunted and gestured to the digital clock on the bedside table, the red digits displayed innocently: 8:03. Squalo nodded, it was time to get up and assemble for the invasion. Xanxus leaned over and brushed a quick kiss over Squalo's cheek before getting out of bed and into the bathroom. Squalo too removed himself from the large bed and pulled on his garments.

Today was the day he had been waiting for. It was the day that Vongola would launch its attack on Grid. Today was the war that would rock Tephire city to its core, the war that would determine his freedom. Today was the be-all and the end-all.*

If Vongola could successfully dominate the three most influential buildings of Tephire city then victory would be easily achieved. However, their ultimate objective was to deactivate the switch which bound and isolated the city from surrounding cities. If they could just remove the switch then all the sacrifices up to this point would not have been in vain.

The bathroom door burst open and Xanxus strode out, topless but looking refreshed and focused for the upcoming event. He too pulled on his black Vongola shirt and clicked his belt containing his two guns. Squalo grabbed his sword from the wall and exited Xanxus' private room, feeling somewhat disgruntled. He waited impatiently outside the room, tapping his foot against the wall.

He couldn't help feeling discouraged and displeased before the important invasion, and there was only one person to blame for his discontent. The very person walked out of the bedroom a second later, slamming the door shut behind him.

Xanxus nudged his head slightly as a silent '_let's go'_, ignoring the glare Squalo shot him. The happiness Squalo felt after waking from his nightmare had disappeared almost immediately, now only dissatisfaction lingered after remembering where _he_ was assigned in the upcoming invasion. However, the shark did not voice his thoughts.

Exercising some self control, he obediently followed the other man to the first floor. For the past month working under Xanxus, sparring with Xanxus and listening to Xanxus, Squalo had never once questioned Xanxus' orders. However now, for the first time ever, Squalo felt inclined to get an answer out of the scarred man as to why he was assigned his task.

When both men reached a small area that split into two different paths, they halted. Xanxus turned around to face him, looking as though he was about to say something. Squalo couldn't hold it any longer, every nerve in his body demanded that he spit out what he had been holding back all this time.

'Voii, why can't I go with you?' Squalo snarled, unable to hide the acrimony in his voice. He sounded like a spoilt child who was unhappy with his mother's decision.

Xanxus growled but didn't lose his patience at Squalo for asking.

'I have my reasons.'

'Fuck! Is that all you can say?' Squalo shouted, not bothering to hold back any longer. All the confusion and resentment that had been bottled up ever since Xanxus told him that he was assigned to a different squad burst forth against his control. 'I want a goddamn explanation Xanxus! I've trained like shit these days to fight for you, and you won't even let me come with you when it matters!'

Xanxus didn't speak which only angered Squalo further.

'What is it huh? You think I'm fucking useless? Am I going to be a fucking burden to you?' Squalo spat. He felt worthless, rejected and unneeded by the man who represented his world.

'Shut up,' Xanxus' eyes shone dangerously and his voice was condensed with such supremacy that Squalo didn't dare speak, 'stop complaining you piece of shit. Just do as you are told.'

The beast within Squalo prodded him to rebuke however the rational side of him told him to calm down and obey quietly. After much mental conflict, the rational side won and Squalo decided with great pain to accept his role. His reluctance could not be beaten down though, he refused to look at Xanxus lest his eyes gave away the hatred he currently felt.

'What are your orders…boss?' Squalo asked finally in a low voice, still refusing to meet Xanxus' eyes.

'Survive.' The raven's eyes gleamed as he gave the order.

Suddenly it all became a typical mission like any other he received from Xanxus. He would have to put away his childish emotions if he wanted to succeed, any order from his boss would have to be fulfilled at all costs.

'Understood,' Squalo answered with equal authority. He lifted his head to meet Xanxus' ruby orbs which cut into him like a thousand razor sharp knives.

Suddenly, without thinking, Squalo jumped onto the Vongola elite and kissed him furiously. He was satisfied to feel the other man encircling his body with strong warm arms in return after realizing what was happening. With their mouths glued together, their tongues fought for dominance. Xanxus cradled one side of Squalo's face with his hand and the other he used to sustain firm contact with their bodies by holding the swordsman's waist.

The passionate exchange was their preparation of each other for the war.

Squalo immersed himself into the world of bliss as Xanxus trailed his mouth down his neck, brushing the muscled flesh gently with his lips. The swordsman, holding Xanxus' head with both hands reestablished the kiss again. They remained locked in the embrace until they remembered the mission and broke apart panting, breaths mingling.

Their faces were less than an inch from each other but Squalo could tell the look in Xanxus' eyes was clearly affection. It was the closest thing to indicate that an emotion like love could actually exist between them.

Squalo brought his hand up to pinch the raven's cheek, Xanxus in response did the same to Squalo. It was their kind of farewell to each other. Both men knew that the kiss they shared a moment ago could potentially be their last. The swordsman took one last deep, long glance at Xanxus' red eyes before turning and walking away.

The shark was determined not to look back, he could hear Xanxus walking away into the other opening. There was no going back now, his mind must be centered at accomplishing his order. He will survive through this, because it was Xanxus' order and he will not disobey Xanxus. Whatever squad he was assigned to, whatever he had to do during the war didn't matter, he will play his part accordingly because anything that he did will affect Xanxus' name also.

He will not be a disgrace to his boss.

On and on, Squalo strode until he reached the entrance to the Vongola headquarters, there his squad was waiting for him. Dino seemed to be leading this small group of four. Looking around Squalo recognized his other teammates. Hibari stood looming behind Dino, an ice cold expression fixed upon his face, Spanner too stood near them and another Vongola man that he did not know the name of.

'Squalo, you're finally here,' Dino greeted him. Squalo gave a small nod of acknowledgment as he observed the others in his team.

'Why is our squad so small?' The swordsman asked curiously. Nobody had told him previously where they were headed or what they were meant to do.

'Our complete squad is waiting outside already, but we're the ones who will sneak in first,' Dino answered hastily.

'What?'

'Let me explain now that everyone is here…' Dino motioned for the four men to gather around.

'Are we all familiar with the general plan Vongola has for this war?'

Everyone nodded quickly.

'Voii, you mean the stuff about taking over the three pillars?' Squalo asked.

'That's it,' Dino replied, 'we want to take control of the three most prominent landmarks of this city. Mukuro's squad is given the Western Tower, Enma's squad has the Eastern and we have been assigned the main building. We each have about fifty men.'

This information gave Squalo a big surprise. _The main building? With only fifty? _

'What kind of shit is that?' He exclaimed, 'why are we given the main building –'

'Shut up and listen herbivore,' Hibari threatened quietly. Squalo scowled but listened to Dino anyways.

'Xanxus and the Varia, Byakuran's and Colonello's squads along with Tsuna and Reborn will be dealing with the Axel's palace,' Dino continued, 'they will take on the Axel's army and they will be the ones who will have to deactivate the switch.'

'If all our squads attack our assigned areas at once, we will probably hold against them well however there's one problem. Since Tsuna's group are directly assaulting the Axel Pohlepa's palace, once Pohlepa calls for help, he'll probably have the whole Grid hunter force helping him at his palace.'

'What's wrong with that?' Squalo asked, 'wouldn't that make it easier for us to overtake the three pillars?'

'True but with the majority of the Grid hunter force as well as Pohlepa's private army all fighting at the palace, it places the switch at a huge risk. We don't know where the switch is, but with all the commotion there, it could potentially suffer some heavy damage, or in the worst case break. If that happens, Tephire city is trapped forever and all our plans will be reduced to ashes.'

Squalo understood perfectly now, just taking over the three pillars wasn't enough. They had to make sure that all the Grid hunter arrangements were normal, that the only people fighting at the Axel's palace were the private army and Tsuna's squad. So much of this could be affected by one little miscalculation.

'Voii, let me get this straight. We want our squad fighting against a few hundred grid hunters at the main building. Mukuro & Enma's groups fighting against the Grid hunters at the Eastern and Western towers. Tsuna's group fighting against the Axel's private army and _only_ the private army at the Axel's palace?'

Dino nodded, 'it's the only way we can succeed. Tsuna's group will be more than enough to take down the private army.'

'Wouldn't it be better for the switch if the Axel's private army decides to help at one of the buildings instead of fight against the brat's squad at the palace? We could lure that army away from the palace, because even if it's just them fighting, the switch could still be in danger.'

'If that's the case, even though the switch will be completely safe, one of our squads will most likely be obliterated,' Dino answered firmly, 'none of the squads can combat the Axel's army by themselves, let alone the combined forces of the Grid hunters along with that.'

Squalo grunted, this was probably all Tsuna's plan. He'd be the type to want to get through this with the least amount of deaths as possible. A naïve intention, a first-rate leader will think beyond the sacrifices but this brat would rather risk the switch, the future of this city than risk a group of his men.

'Our job, just the five of us, is probably the most important in this whole plan,' Dino asserted.

The most important job, reserved for only the five of them. _Some plan…_

'We need to shut down the Grid communicating system,' the blonde announced, 'we need to sneak into the main building before the invasion and completely disable that system. That way, the Axel won't be able to call for help when he is under attack, it will just be him and his army.'

Spanner gave a small '_ah_' when he heard this.

'So that's why I'm here?' He commented, 'I'll need to hack into the system right?'

Squalo knew why he was assigned to this squad now, if they needed to sneak into the main building and all the way to the top, they needed someone who was familiar with the place.

'Only after the communicating system is shut down, I can notify all the other squads so they can begin their attack.'

But a sudden realization dawned on Squalo as he understood why Xanxus had so persistently insisted that he go with Dino's group. Not just because he was familiar with Grid's systems but because they were stationed at the main building, where _Taros_ was. If Squalo joined with Xanxus and the Varia, he would never get a chance to fight the Grid captain.

_Was that why he ordered me to go with this group? _He gulped and shamed bubbled inside him. All this time Xanxus was putting his best interests at heart, and Squalo had never shown any gratitude for it. Now he might not ever get a chance to do so. _But this isn't time to be feeling regretful…_

'So when are we leaving?' Squalo asked.

'Now,' Dino answered and opened the door to the entrance, 'the earlier we get our job done, the earlier the others can launch their assault.'

The blonde noble lead the four men into a small hover-car parked nearby. They got in, cramped in the small space.

'Why are we using this car?' Asked the other Vongola man.

'So we don't draw attention to ourselves,' Dino answered him from the wheel, 'I'll explain exactly what we're going to do during the trip.'

The four men listened carefully as the car took off and Dino began speaking.

'The control room is on the top floor, the four of you will be climbing up there through the air ducts,' he said, 'I'll get up there directly since Grid doesn't suspect me.'

'Voii, and I guess I'll be leading us through the air pipes?' Squalo said, admiring the competent choice of travel Dino had decided on, 'not a bad plan actually.'

The air circulation system, Squalo would never have thought of it himself. He was pretty familiar with how the pipes worked, they ran through every floor and past almost every room. With just the four of them, they could definitely sneak in without being caught. The problem would only arise when they reached the control room, how long exactly would the deactivation take?

'I'm glad you think that Squalo,' Dino smiled, 'I'll be waiting for you guys outside the control room, you should be able to see me if you look through the air vents. I've researched this during the past month and if everything goes smoothly, we'll be able to shut down the system in no time.'

'Bucking horse, how are we going to enter the building? You think Grid would just let the five of us waltz in?'

'I'll show you that when we arrive.'

'Captain Dino, what else is there to know?' asked the other Vongola man.

'The rest of our Squad is stationed near the building, as soon as we destroy the system, they'll flood into the building and fight. We'll be fighting alongside them of course, but Grid are bound to realize that their transmitters aren't working at some point so the five of us will remain only on the top floor. We can't have someone turning the system back on.'

Squalo was nonetheless still skeptical about entering the main building. His curiosity only deepened when instead of the high district, Dino stopped and parked the car in an empty fenced-off area in the low district. He walked out a few steps, knelt next to a metal door on the floor and slowly opened it.

'This is how we're getting in,' Dino explained, not at all surprised by the looks of disgust on his comrades' faces.

'Fuck, you expect us to walk through shit?' Squalo yelled, staring at the manhole in repulsion. The others murmured in agreement.

'It's the only way I figured,' the noble said apologetically, 'come on we need to hurry.'

Reluctantly, Squalo and the others followed Dino down the drain, climbing the metal ladder attached to the wall. He heard Hibari grunt in revulsion at the smell and felt his own stomach bubble uncomfortably.

The landing was awkward, he sincerely hoped that the centimeter high liquid below his boots was water. Three other splashes around him indicated that the others had reached the bottom. There were faint fluorescent lights attached to the ceiling so that the pathway forward was clear.

'Don't worry, we aren't that far off from the main building,' Dino reassured them. Abruptly he began to run, a heavy splash with each step. The others followed him, eager to be out of the place as soon as possible.

They soon reached a large gap in the path filled with what seemed like faeces and urine. From Squalo's position it looked like a dark brown lake with solid land a hundred metres away in front of them.

'We're not swimming through this are we?' He asked, glaring at Dino although he couldn't think of another way to get across the gigantic pool-like structure.

Dino gave an amused laugh before pointing to the ceiling. Squalo saw metal hand bars hanging in a sequential fashion that reached all the way to the other side of the 'pool'. They reminded him of monkey bars and he sighed in relief.

'Careful not to fall in though,' the noble joked.

Jumping up and grabbing the bars with his hands, Squalo began to swing forward slowly, determined to climb to the other side. Dino waited until everyone was climbing before jumping up himself. There were minutes of silence except for their hasty puffs of breath as they swung one after the other over the looming black lake.

When Squalo reached about halfway across, one of the bars he was holding detached itself from the ceiling.

'VOII,' he shrieked, dangling dangerously above the odorous mess with one hand.

'What happened?' Dino called from behind.

'A bar fell off,' Spanner answered from behind Squalo.

'The gap's still enough for us to cross,' Squalo observed, 'I'll make sure that the others are solid before we grab onto them.'

Cursing how close he was to falling into the brown muck, Squalo double checked each bar before transferring his weight on it. Fortunately, apart from the one in the middle, none of the others fell. The five men landed safely on the other side without further hassle.

'We're almost there,' Dino said and broke into another run. They continued to travel through the underground sewer until the blonde stopped at a certain ladder fixed to the wall.

'Here's where we get out,' Dino began to climb the long ladder, Squalo and the others following him quickly. He pushed the door to the manhole open and stumbled out, grateful for the fresh air that greeted him.

'Fuck I'm never going in there again,' Squalo snarled, glad that nothing unpleasant had stuck onto him.

Looking around him, he noticed that they had emerged into a desolated alleyway right beside the main building. Surrounding them were various air ducts, evidently all leading into the gigantic monument. Hastily, Dino opened one of the larger air vents and motioned for them to enter.

'Squalo, I'm counting on you to lead them inside. I'll wait for you guys in the entrance hall.'

The swordsman nodded and Dino turned to Spanner instead.

'Spanner, I'll contact you through the transmitter as often as I can.'

The mechanic gave a double thumbs up and clicked on his earpiece. Dino waited until all four men were inside the spacious air pipe before closing the vent. Then he ran off, leaving Squalo in charge of the small squad.

Squalo glanced around at the interior of the air pipes, apart from the light shining through the serrated edges of the air vent there was no other source of light.

'Voii, I guess we can only climb for now. But once I get a glimpse of the building interior, I'll know where to go,' Squalo assured them.

He began to climb the ladder in front of him, to his relief, the three others did not hesitate to obey him. They followed him up silently, not voicing any complaint.

'Squalo, I've got a torch if you need it,' Spanner offered behind him. Squalo nodded and took the small handle that the mechanic gave to him. He shone the light around, looking for any opening to enter. When he spotted one right above him, he motioned for the others to follow.

The opening was big enough for a full grown man to crawl comfortably through. Slowly, Squalo got down to his knees and made his way through, he could hear the others doing the same. After a few minutes of crawling in the darkness, he saw streaks of light coming from a nearby vent outlet. Peeking through the slanted blades of metal, he saw a spacious room with Grid hunters walking to and fro, a reception desk and various workers.

'Oi, mechanic,' Squalo whispered, 'we're at the entrance hall now.'

'Are you positive?'

'Yeah, I think I can see bucking horse…'

Squalo double checked to make sure it was Dino standing afar before nodding. He was casually talking to one of the Grid hunters before he received Spanner's signal. Squalo saw him quickly brush off the Grid hunter before making his way to the elevator.

'What does he say?' Squalo hissed.

'He says he'll meet us next to the outlet vent near the control room,' Spanner answered, 'we need to make our way up to the top, he says there should be one long pipe that leads past all the floors.'

_One single pipe that leads to every floor? _Squalo cursed in his head before turning back to Spanner.

'Voii, that damn bucking horse, he means the area where we entered this small pipe. We just need to keep on climbing that until we get to the top.'

Hearing this, Hibari who was at the back growled, turned around and then started to crawl back to the place where they entered. When the group was back at the roomy dark area, Squalo turned on the torch again and shone it above him. As expected, there was the ladder they climbed to reach this area, extended all the way above them. The building was so tall Squalo could not see the top of the pipe but he knew that they had to keep on ascending until they did reach the top.

'Come on, we need to climb this thing,' Squalo began to make his way up, rail after rail.

'Squalo, how many floors is the main building?' Spanner asked below him.

'Twenty.'

'Only? But the building looks humongous from the outside.'

'Don't let the number of floors fool you, each floor is gigantic.'

Squalo wasted no more breath answering questions.

'Voii, each opening you see when we climb is actually one floor, so we need to go into the twentieth one. You can count if you like…'

Squalo pulled himself upward, past the fourth, fifth and onwards. There was a small platform next to each opening which they could rest on, but Squalo did not allow them to rest. Up and up they traveled, everyone had lost track of time. Only when they reached the top did Squalo let his teammates sit down and recover from the long climb.

'What's the situation over there?' Squalo asked, panting slightly.

Spanner attempted to get in touch with Dino but he shook his head.

'He's not responding, maybe he's talking to someone.'

After having a good five minute break to catch their breath, Squalo and the others climbed into the topmost rectangular pipe. This one was much wider than the others, so much that Squalo had Spanner crawling beside him with no problem. When they were met with another outlet vent, Squalo looked outside again.

'Hmm, that's not it. If we turn left the next chance we get, we'll get there.'

They kept on crawling, sometimes they could hear faint voices below them coming from the nobles talking in the rooms. On those occasions they paused to listen in case they were saying something of importance but most of the time it was just a noble client discussing an insignificant plan of his.

After turning left at a split, the group was still traveling without success until another block of light met their path.

Here, Squalo could hear loud voices coming out and when he peeked down, the control room was within his sight.

'Voii…we're here!' He whispered excitedly to the others.

'Huh,' Hibari growled, 'where's the herbivore?'

Before Squalo could peek outside again, a loud voice pierced through him like a well sharpened blade.

'Cavallone was it?' Said a voice from a few metres away. Squalo's group froze and listened intently.

'Indeed, General Taros,' Dino replied. Squalo was impressed by his eloquence, the manner in which he could alter his speech to sound this convincing. However, upon hearing Taros' voice, the savage beast within him suddenly woke.

'Hah, one of the Axel's favorites?' Taros scorned mockingly, 'what brings you here?'

_Taros! _The beast within Squalo screamed and yelled. He was losing self control, the carnal elements of his being threatened to dominate him right here and now. The desire to reveal himself and kill the man he had craved to kill was intensifying.

'I was merely admiring the grandeur of this building, and happened to wonder here,' Dino replied firmly with an ounce of apology in his voice.

'Well if that's the case, then you'd better look out too,' Taros said.

'Look out?' Dino asked politely.

Squalo was starting to feel dizzy, his savage intentions were slowly poisoning his body, his judgment, his conscience. The more he heard Taros speaking, the more he wanted to fight the man. He was struggling not to shake, mainly from rage and hatred. But he couldn't ruin it for them now, he will not allow himself to. If he lost control, then it was over for Vongola, he had to stay calm.

'I heard that there were unauthorized individuals in the sewer this morning,' Taros growled, 'might be the Vongola scum.'

'Indeed?'

The voices were getting louder now. Spanner and the others stiffened beside Squalo. However the swordsman who was too immersed in his own mental conflict, did not pay attention to what they were saying.

'One of the handrails down there fell off, the middle one. All Grid personnel know to skip that one as it is designed to break if used. This morning though, someone was stupid enough to use it,' Taros gave a harsh laugh, 'they probably drowned in the shit.'

'Alas, the chaos these days,' Dino commented lightheartedly, 'I wish you luck in finding the intruder. Rest assured that I shall notify Grid if I happen to witness anything.'

Taros grunted and walked toward the pipe which held Squalo's group, still in conversation with Dino. Squalo caught sight of his figure as the Grid captain strode past the air vent outlet.

Upon seeing the very man he detested in physical form, Squalo felt his last bit of control slip away. He didn't hear what Dino and Taros were saying anymore. Opening the outlet, he prepared to jump down.

'What are you doing Squalo!' Spanner hissed beside him, looking horrified.

Squalo ignored him and jumped down, landing on the floor with a soft thud. Taros stood with his back toward him, he did not hear Squalo land. Without further hesitation, Squalo leapt forward and punched the Grid captain with all the strength he could muster. Taros was sent flying across the corridor, landing in a disorganized heap on the ground.

As soon as his fist made contact with the other's flesh, the savage beast inside Squalo died down and he realized what he had done. Dino was looking at him in shock and horror, gaping and at a loss of words.

Taros got to his feet, scowling until he caught sight of Squalo. For a moment he stared blankly as if thinking Squalo was his hallucination.

'Superbi?' He asked incredulously. He also seemed to be at a loss of words.

Taros was talking to him. The notion seemed to anger Squalo even further and the rational mindset he recovered recently disappeared again.

'Fight me bastard,' Squalo snarled, eyes gleaming with contempt. Taros was quick to recover.

'Haha,' he barked, 'what's this Superbi? Come back to Grid now?'

'Squalo!' Dino exclaimed, anger radiating off his figure.

'Huh?' Taros blinked, glancing from Squalo to Dino confusedly.

'Fuck off bucking horse, this shit is mine,' Squalo growled dangerously, eyes never leaving his prey.

Taros' eyes widened with shock as he saw Squalo and Dino addressing each other. For a moment, there was an awkward pause in which Dino realized his mistake and swore quietly. Then suddenly, understanding appeared on Taros' face.

'You…' he snarled at Dino, unable to create a proper insult as he was shaking with rage. His face was now scrunched up in fury as he realized Dino's true identity, along with who he worked for the whole time.

'Shit!' Dino cursed and backed away slightly, thinking rapidly. Taros ran forward to attack the blonde but Squalo intervened, delivering another punch to the Grid captain's face.

'Voii, get going Dino!' Squalo yelled, preparing himself for Taros' onslaught. His ex-boss got to his feet, expression impassive. For a moment he looked in the midst of preparing another attack but instead he paused, choosing to watch the two Vongola men. Then he began to laugh in a maniacal way and reached for his transmitter.

Squalo watched attentively as Taros whispered something quickly into the small speaker. He could also hear Dino speaking frantically into his own behind him.

'Superbi, is this the best you can do?' Taros mocked after he was finished with the transmitter, he spared a glance at Dino too.

'The fuck do you mean?' Squalo shouted, unable to control himself. _Stay calm._

'I know now, you Vongola shits are in the building aren't you?'

Neither Squalo nor Dino answered him. Taros didn't wait for them.

'Too bad for you lot, I've just notified the whole building that you're here. They'll be searching you out and killing you.'

Squalo still didn't respond, but he heard Dino giving orders frantically into his own speaker and understood. Dino had just given command for their squad to attack, even before they had shut down the communication system. It was the final act of desperation, the solid proof that their original plan had gone wrong.

'Hold him off Squalo!' Dino ordered him before telling the others hidden in the rectangular air pipe to jump out.

'I didn't need you to tell me that,' Squalo said. However Taros didn't move from his position, he watched the scene unfold in front of him with bored amusement. When he saw Hibari, Spanner and the other Vongola man jump out of the air vent though, his eyes shone with fury again. With breakneck speed, he sped past Squalo and pulled out his laser whip.

Before Squalo could react to Taros' sudden action, the Grid captain swung the weapon, aiming for the four who were running the other direction. The other Vongola man who was the last to jump out of the pipe had his head cut off in one swift motion.

'No!' Dino yelled but it was too late. The headless torso fell to the ground, never to get up again. Squalo gave a low growl and pounced in front of Taros so that Dino and the others could safely make their way into the control room. Taros gave a roar of wrath as he with a futile attempt tried to make his way past Squalo.

'You Vongola scum will die either way,' he proclaimed for them to hear, 'the Axel's private army are on their way here, you can escape now but your fate remains unchanged!'

Squalo froze as Taros dropped the bombshell. _The Axel's private army? Heading here?_

'You fucking liar!' Squalo yelled in rage as he drew his sword and attempted to slash Taros. The Grid captain dodged and backed away into a safer distance.

'Deny it all you want Superbi,' Taros mocked, 'but what I said is true.'

Dread filled his mind as Squalo tried to accept the truth. He heard a short click of the door and noticed that Dino and the others were inside the control room. He had Taros all to himself now, wasn't this what he wanted?

With all his effort, he attempted to beat down the hopelessness that was growing inside him. He tried to focus his mind on the battle. Whether the Axel's army really was heading to the main building or not would not change what was about to happen. Nothing in the past mattered anymore, nothing in the upcoming future will matter either. There was only this battle, the battle that he will win or give his life trying.

Taros was further enraged when he realized that Dino and the other Vongola members had entered the control room. His coolness turned into fury and he took out a solid metal stick from his belt. The stick expanded and shaped itself into a shiny metal lance which Taros wielded with confidence. Both tips were equally sharp and equally deadly, the weapon clearly specialized in killing at a crowded battlefield where striking down friend or foe did not matter.

'What are you fuckers planning to do in the control room?' Taros growled dangerously, more to himself than to Squalo.

'I wouldn't be thinking of that right now,' the swordsman snarled back.

Squalo eyed the weapon tentatively and felt his own adrenaline level rise. Taros was planning to end this quickly for Squalo had never once seen him use his lance before, he had only heard rumors about it. His fighting drive was combusting inside him, energy rushed through his veins at unimaginable speeds. Holding his sword steadily, he lit the blade with blue flame by channeling all his excess energy through his left hand and onto the hilt.

He didn't know how he did it, he didn't know why it suddenly worked now of all times. But currently, in this moment Squalo felt as though he could do anything he set his mind to, he was unstoppable.

'Learnt some new tricks Superbi?' Taros commented sardonically when he saw the flame before suddenly leaping forward and attacking. Squalo blocked the blow without difficulty and returned one that was equally deadly. Squalo wasn't surprised when Taros avoided that one, he had long learned not to underestimate his enemy.

Abruptly, the two men began exchanging a multitude of blows. Their weapons clanged and clashed with unpredictable rhythm, sparks flew after each metal on metal contact. Squalo managed to deliver his blows with effortless grace, the training and continuous sparring he did with Xanxus was finally paying off. He was no longer overwhelmed by Taros' strength, he could now summon his own to match that strength.

Taros seemed to realize this and a savage grin graced his face.

'This is interesting Superbi!' He teased, swinging the lance forward, 'who taught you this shit?'

Squalo parried the blow and delivered a kick to Taros' exposed abdomen but the Grid captain managed to halt the kick with his own leg. Before the shark could withdraw his limb, Taros pulled the lance downward in attempt to puncture the vulnerable flesh of Squalo's leg. Reacting quickly, Squalo with all his strength knocked the lance with his sword and managed to change the course of the weapon as it was brought down.

The sharp tip at the end of the lance grazed Squalo's lower leg, ripping the leather of his trousers and causing a dollop of blood to spit out. Squalo hissed at the small pain and rotated his sword around so that the hilt was in line with and facing the Grid captain's ribs. Without hesitating, Squalo pushed the hilt forward and to his satisfaction, a small crack was heard as the force of the hit was transferred into Taros' ribcage.

The Grid captain grunted and withdrew, one hand massaging the area where Squalo had stabbed with the sword's hilt. Squalo too, took a couple of steps back to give him enough time to observe the cut he received from the lance. It was shallow but blood had already soaked the small area surrounding the cut.

Without further ado, the two men clashed weapons again. There was no more mockery in Taros' eyes now, he was dead serious. Squalo was impressed at how well focused that man could become when he wanted to, how easily he could vacate all his arrogance in the appropriate time. As blows were delivered and blocked, Squalo felt various others cuts forming around his body.

It was a while before he realized that the battle was not going anywhere, they were equally matched. Frustrated, Squalo was tempted to remove his guard and choose the reckless style of battling. One that could deal significant damage to his opponent if it succeeded but would expose the user greatly if failed. The swordsman impatient as ever arranged himself in preparation to use the style he had recently perfected. He didn't care where this was going, he wanted to deal some damage to Taros.

Grabbing the hilt of his sword with both hands, Squalo ran forward and swung the blade up. Before he could execute his attack though, Taros as if reading his movements, stepped aside easily and countered the lunge attack. Taking his lance firmly, he grabbed Squalo's right arm and stabbed it viciously with the head of his weapon.

'Reckless…' he commented, sounding even disappointed at the petty attempt Squalo had used.

Squalo gave a yell of pain and removed his right arm from the edge of the weapon, inflamed tissue scraping agonizingly against the ferocious metal of Taros' lance. He backed away panting, the intense pain from the piercing of his arm cleared his mind a little and he understood his blunder.

He had lost his head against his opponent, he had let his impatience overtake his better judgement. He who is unable to remain calm during a fight will without a doubt lose it. He couldn't afford to make such a mistake at a time like this, how often had he lost to Xanxus during their spars due to this very reason?

His right arm bled profusely, hanging limply next to his body. He had no problem fighting with only his left arm but how can he manage to defeat Taros in this state? If this went on, both of them would be exhausted and there would be no outcome of the fight. In the worst case, a Grid fighter might make his way up here and interrupt their exchange.

_Stay patient, keep fighting, you'll figure it out_. What would Xanxus say to him right now? Xanxus always seemed to know his flaws, he always managed to overcome him without much hassle. _Why?_

Why was it that Xanxus could always beat him?

Why was it that after all his intense training during the past month, he could still only fight _equally_ with Taros? It frustrated him to no end, but he had to remain calm and accept things. He could definitely defeat Taros, he knew he could but how?

Taros leapt forward and delivered another round of hits again, Squalo blocked them without difficulty. However he still could not find an opening in his opponent, and judging from the irritated expression on Taros' face, the Grid captain was in the same situation. His mind was completely focused on the battle but he also spared a few thoughts on his past experiences and battles.

He thought hard about the spars he had with Xanxus, what went on and what he learnt from them. The small embarrassment he felt whenever the raven subdued him with ease and the frightening determination that coursed his veins.

.

'_Voii, Xanxus! I don't get it,' he yelled after being beaten for the tenth time that very day 'how do you keep defeating me?' _

'_Don't underestimate me trash,' Xanxus replied brusquely, waiting for Squalo to get up. _

'_Fuck, I never once underestimated you!' _

'_If that were the case, you'd be able to fight equally with me.' _

'_What do you mean?' Squalo was confused, he would never expect himself to have strength matching that of Xanxus, but he sorely disliked how the other could so easily overcome him. _

_Xanxus sat down on the floor next to Squalo and explained, to the shark's surprise. _

'_Whenever you deliver a hit, expect the opponent to block, parry or avoid it. If they don't then consider yourself lucky, but don't expect that luck another time.' _

'_The hell?' _

'_Whenever your attack hits me, you subconsciously reward yourself and remove your guard, even if it's just a little bit. Whenever I avoid your hits, you seem slightly surprised and you become frustrated.'_

'_Who the fuck wouldn't be frustrated after all their hits are blocked so easily?' _

'_If you respect your opponent and truly acknowledge their strength…scum,' Xanxus grabbed the shark's hair and glared at him with impatience, 'don't be fucking surprised if they deflect all you throw at them. Don't count on them to fall for your intentions. Instead, consider that a normal occurrence and keep fighting.' _

_._

Squalo avoided the final blow that Taros gave and jumped back. Both men were panting and out of breath, bleeding and injured in numerous places. He remembered that instance clearly, it stuck so clearly in his mind because Xanxus had actually patiently explained and answered his question instead of replying his usual 'shut up' or 'no reason'.

He had to admit that he took Xanxus' answer to heart and tried to apply it during every fight. He realized now that Taros, despite the hatred and loathing he voiced, actually considered him a competent opponent. When he had tried to challenge the man earlier, he would be struck down immediately. Taros always finished their fights as quickly as possible, but right now he let the fight drag on. Not because he wanted to, but because he couldn't find a chance to end it quickly like before, it was an indication of how much Squalo's strength had grown in the past couple of months.

They were exhausted, Taros was scowling at the number of injuries he had received. His clothes were ripped in various places, his torso was covered in scratches, cuts and bruises. Squalo was in no better condition, blood was flowing out from every cut on his body, dripping to the floor. What would Xanxus do in this kind of situation?

.

'_There's a stage for everyone…' Xanxus told him once, when they were sitting at the dining area and waiting for their meals, 'there's a level where your physical strength will no longer grow.' _

'_Voii, what!' _

'_Idiot, don't sound so shocked. There's a limit to how much one can develop their abilities, and when they reach that limit, any extent of physical training afterward will make a minimal difference to their fighting skill,' Xanxus explained. _

'_That sounds like bullshit! If everyone reaches that limit then how do you determine who is stronger in a fight?' _

'_Shut up and listen carefully,' Xanxus growled, 'in terms of physical strength and experience, you and I are equal.' _

'_The fuck are you saying?' Squalo didn't think he deserved to be 'placed' on the same level as Xanxus, not when the other was evidently so much stronger than he was. _

'_I know you as a person, therefore I can read your movements and predict your style of fighting,' Xanxus explained slowly, 'that's why I'm able to defeat you. There's a pattern in your movements, just like every other fighter. I'm familiar with your characteristics, your life, everything that makes you as an individual.' _

_Squalo didn't understand, he had always thought that physical strength determined everything in battle. _

'_You and that bastard you want to kill are no different in terms of ability, if you keep training you won't go anywhere because both of you are at that limit. Know his history, his motives, what stimulated him to become what he is, and then read his movements.' _

_._

How the heck was Squalo supposed to read Taros' movements? He decided to take things slowly. What were Taros' motives? Never once had he ever bothered to find out, not even in all the years he had worked under the Grid captain. Squalo was only aware of the bastard's undying hatred for peasants, but didn't all nobles share that hatred?

He stepped forward and feinted to the left, taking Xanxus' advice and not expecting Taros to fall for it. The Grid captain, to Squalo's anticipation indeed saw through the feint and the swordsman changed his movement in mid-air to adapt to the brand new situation he was faced with. He spun and shot his sword forward and to his surprise, Taros failed to avoid the attack.

His blade sunk deep into the side of Taros' hip, causing the Grid captain to gasp and spit out blood. Squalo withdrew his blade from the flesh, admiring his success but simultaneously keeping his guard in tact in case Taros decided to counter. The noble stepped back slightly but a malicious grin appeared on his face, to Squalo's disappointment Taros did not look weakened by the injury.

'Fucking peasant,' he commented, 'you've improved.'

They circled each other, looking for openings. Squalo understood that one hit did not secure his victory, on the contrary it might even lead to his defeat. The assurance and satisfaction he felt from successfully delivering a blow could in fact turn upon him, give him the confidence that he did not deserve.

'Did that fucker teach you this?' Taros asked mockingly.

_Xanxus? _Squalo felt a wash of pride as he thought of the progress he had made thanks to the raven.

'So what if he did?' He replied firmly. Taros only laughed after hearing this, his arrogance never leaving.

'I enjoyed whipping that peasant, he looked beautiful squirming on the floor covered in his own blood.'

Squalo glared at his opponent with contempt, a fiery flame of rage induced within him when Xanxus was insulted. _Calm down, he's trying to make you angry_. He couldn't control the fury he felt, he wanted to maim, hurt and punish Taros for disrespect he just voiced out.

'Nobody…' Squalo's voice radiated with a murderous aura, 'fucking insults my boss.'

His mind was miraculously clear and he lunged forward suddenly, eager to finish the fight. Taros parried the blows but Squalo could feel the weakness behind those blocks now, his opponent was tired, the old solidity in which his strikes were blocked was gone.

Taking advantage of Taros' weakness, Squalo summoned forth the last vial of his strength to overcome the Grid captain. He delivered an endless flurry of attacks, all of which Taros could barely keep up with. The brown-haired noble was being forced back into the wall behind him, trapped between Squalo's strikes and the solid metal against his spine.

As a last unyielding effort to contend against the swordsman, Taros took the end of his lance and drove it into Squalo's right arm, sacrificing his guard in order to deal the damage he wanted. A spark of numbing pain grew and broadened around the area which the lance had torn Squalo but the shark pulled through the intense throbbing, his mind on nothing but his battle.

Squalo did not fail to notice the opening in his opponent's stance and before Taros could properly defend himself, the swordsman pushed his blade steadfastly into the vulnerable flesh. The metal glided through, the swordsman felt with untamed satisfaction. Squalo calmly took his sword away and stepped back, admiring the deep wound he made on Taros' stomach. There was no way the other man could defend himself now, this was his victory.

Taros gasped and spluttered, leaning against the wall and glared at Squalo with acrimony. The Grid captain seemed to realize his defeat but refused to fall just yet.

'Ah…' Taros wheezed, drops of blood expelling from his mouth, 'I…fucking…abhor you peasants.'

Squalo felt like cutting him down then, but he was certain that Taros could not fight back any further. It would be more satisfactory for him to sit and watch him endure the pain, after all the things he had suffered under the Grid captain's hand.

'Tell that to the people in hell…fucker,' Squalo declared and brought the gleaming blade of his sword into Taros' chest, next to but not onto his heart.

Taros gasped in pain as Squalo took out the blade again. Losing all energy in his legs, the noble slumped down the wall into a sitting position groaning and cursing. Still, the man had the energy to look up and grin, not his usual grin that appeared whenever he ridiculed someone, but the grin of acceptance. Acceptance that he was going to die.

'What's this?' He spluttered, observing the blood gushing slowly from his chest and onto the floor, 'not going to kill me quickly?'

Squalo didn't bother answering, instead, assured of his victory, he took a seat in front of the dying man and set his sword aside. He sat, watching Taros struggle, watching the face he detested so much scrunch up in pain. Squalo crossed his legs, waiting and listening, observing Taros who was leaning against the wall, no strength to do anything except talk. His own right arm was throbbing, but he couldn't bring himself to tend to it now.

'Haha, I'm not surprised Superbi,' the man exclaimed and forced out a painful laugh, 'I'd do the same to you.'

The swordsman made no comment but continued to observe Taros intently. Something was different now, there was no more arrogance in that face, no more confidence. Instead, there was something that Squalo never dreamed that Taros could show.

'Fucking peasants should all die,' Taros murmured, eyes gleaming but not with rage anymore. This made the shark curious, because he was certain the tone behind Taros' voice was desperation, as though the man was ashamed of losing. It was sadness, Squalo thought his eyes must have been playing tricks on him for no defeated man would ever show sadness. Disbelief yes, fury also, but definitely not sadness.

'You think that…' Taros panted, '…you peasants are so fucking pure.'

Squalo could tell the man was preparing his final words and he was willing to listen. Even though the noble in front of his was his worst enemy, he was still a fighter. As a warrior Squalo will witness the closing moments of another warrior, no matter who they may be or how much he detested them.

'You…think…' the dying man continued, '…that you're the victim…you…You complain...that us nobles treat you like shit eh...'

'Voii,' Squalo snarled, 'just shut up and die already.'

'No…you'll fucking listen to this Superbi,' Taros' voice sounded stronger now, 'you peasants deserve your shitty spot at the bottom, you deserve to rot with the trash that we throw out…you belong down there…'

Squalo didn't bother telling the man to stop talking, he was exhausted himself and his injuries would kill him if they weren't tended to. However, the desperate gleam in Taros' eye moved him to listen to the rubbish that the noble was spouting.

Taros took a deep breath before continuing, he clutched his chest in a futile attempt to reduce the pain.

'M-my mother,' his voice shook slightly, 'taught me to respect you peasants…she was one of the rare nobles who truly believed in equality between us. I remember so clearly…' Taros closed his eyes, 'when I was a kid, she told me everyday to accept you trashes, to acknowledge and befriend you. She fought hard and tried to convince the other nobles too.'

Squalo didn't see where this was going, but he was too fatigued to get up. He decided to listen to Taros' story.

'I listened to her, she was my mother…she raised me up lovingly, I'll never forget that…' the Grid captain went on, 'I tried to support her by telling my peers, the noble kids the same age as me but they never listened. They were stubbornly fixated on the fact that nobles were superior, they were never interested in peasants possessing equal rights as them. I tried and tried, but it was hopeless. My mother didn't give up though, and her determination channeled through me, so I didn't give up either.'

'She told me that we were all humans and shouldn't be segregated like this, she genuinely wanted you scum and us nobles to co-exist peacefully. She was opposing the Axel's beliefs at that time and she wasn't allowed to voice her opinions out freely so she decided to take matters into her own hands…'

Squalo sighed and rolled his eyes, he felt like cutting Taros' head off so that he would stop talking. He seriously wasn't interested in the bastard's childhood life but his warrior instinct told him to keep on listening, as tedious as it may be.

'She took me down to the lower district frequently to visit peasant villages, just the two of us,' Taros said, breathing heavily knowing his life could slip away any moment, 'we wanted to be friends with the peasants. We offered them help, money, anything but they distrusted us. The first village we visited shunned us aside and refused our help. They avoided us, they locked themselves away whenever we came near and cursed us when we tried to speak to them.'

'My mother told me to keep on trying, it was understandable that they'd be so hostile toward us. But every village we went to treated us the same way, they wouldn't listen to our intentions. They thought we were the same as the other nobles, they thought we were there for personal gain….'

'I don't know how long we kept trying for…a year probably? We never succeeded, all those times we couldn't even get an answer from you fucking peasants…until…'

Taros suddenly smiled at his memory, Squalo stared at him curiously.

'One day when we visited we managed to speak to a group of male peasants,' Taros laughed softly, 'they listened to us and they welcomed us into their home. There, they asked us questions and we answered them, they treated us to lunch and we happily ate with them. We were so happy, finally some of you trashes had enough patience to hear our words, my mother and I thought they were intent on helping us…but we were mistaken.'

'It was a trap, before we could leave their home, they took advantage of us…' Taros' face scrunched up in pain and his eyes were heavy lidded, 'there were five of them, against me and my mother. They easily overwhelmed us, we couldn't even fight back…after they subdued us, they dragged the both of us to the town square and motioned to onlookers…'

'Surrounding peasants gathered around…I can remember so clearly…nobody bothered to help,' Taros' voice was shaking now but it did not lose any strength, 'they took turns fucking my mother in front of all the townspeople. The peasants…actually cheered them on and encouraged them, the men forced me to watch as it all happened…'

Squalo was listening intently now, this was something he never knew about Taros and it was intriguing.

'I couldn't believe what was happening, my mother screamed for me to run as she was being assaulted but the surrounding peasants blocked my way. They laughed at the sight of my mother struggling,' Taros grunted, 'I remember crying…it was too shocking for me. After they were done with raping her, they ganged up and brutally beat her until she was a ruined mess on the ground. They beat her until she wasn't breathing…'

'T-then, they humiliated me in front of all the onlookers, they threw shit at me…pissed on me…whilst everyone was enjoying it. They told me to go back to the high district where I belonged,' Taros laughed and looked at Squalo, 'Superbi, you're familiar with that right?'

Squalo didn't answer as he thought of what Taros did to him at the Axel's party. True, he knew well enough how painful it was to be ridiculed in front of a group of hostile spectators.

'Somehow I managed to escape, maybe they even purposely left me alive to suffer,' Taros murmured, 'it took me ages to get home, by then everything was too overwhelming…it was too much for me…'

'But I never forgot my mother's determination, I was angry and I wanted revenge. From that day on my view on you fucking peasants changed forever. I realized that you scum deserved to stay below us nobles, because clearly instead of accepting the help we offer you, you take advantage of it…it didn't surprise me anymore that you peasants were below us in the first place.'

'I strove to become stronger, so that you pieces of shit will forever remain where you belong, below the nobles' feet. I had heard about Vongola at a young age, and how they wanted to overthrow the Axel and his rule. I trained myself heavily to stop that, it disgusted me to think that peasants were thinking of overtaking us nobles,' Taros' voice was condensed with hatred, 'when I became the Grid captain, I swore that under my rule, no peasant will ever overthrow Tephire city, as long as I'm here, we –nobles- will forever maintain our position over you scum…'

Squalo froze as he saw tears flowing down Taros' face. He understood why now that there was so much sadness when the man saw his defeat. His dream had been crushed by the very people he wanted to conquer. He had been too weak to fulfill his promise.

'I wanted all you peasants…to feel and suffer the same amount of humiliation that my mother and I suffered,' Taros choked slightly, liquid continuously flowing down his face, 'but…I fucking failed, you peasant scum are going to win this, and there's nothing I can do about it…'

Squalo growled softly, still staring at the Grid captain with contempt. He could tell that Taros was close to dying, and he knew why Taros was telling him of all people the story of his life. He wanted someone to remember him, to witness his last moments, there was nothing worse in the world than to be forgotten.

Taros suddenly coughed and spluttered, he clutched his chest harder than ever, rocking against the wall and panting at the pain. He had reached his end, and he knew it.

'What about you then Superbi?' He growled, glaring at Squalo, 'you're still a peasant, even when you worked for Grid and fought against Vongola, that doesn't change the fact that you're still a dirty, filthy peasant…'

'You're no different to them at all…Superbi…' Taros laughed again, rough and harsh, 'but I guess you must have had your own reasons to be this strong.'

The Grid captain closed his eyes slowly, his arm at his chest fell limply to his side and he spoke no more. Squalo sat staring at the man for a while before he finally accepted that his enemy was really dead.

Slowly and painfully, he got to his feet, wounds aching and bleeding. He had never realized how similar he was to Taros and all this time he never really acknowledged the Grid captain as someone who had suffered under the hands of peasants.

He never really considered where Taros had gotten his insane strength from, or why he was strong in the first place. There was an ounce of truth to what the noble had told him, and he was stupid to not realize that people with Taros' ability didn't just acquire their strength from being an arrogant scum. To achieve such a high standard, to become to powerful, one needed a drive to do so, a single motivation.

Wasn't this the same for him? He too had suffered under Grid's rule, and he wanted revenge which stimulated him to perfect his skills. Taros was just like him, but shaped in a different context, thus stimulated to possess different motives. All warriors were similar in this sense.

He understood now, that all the monsters he's faced up to now must all have their own reasons to acquire strength and power. Otherwise they would not have achieved the level of ability that they all possessed. Even Xanxus must have his own reason to be strong.

Squalo's head was spinning with thoughts as he limped towards the control room.

Now that his opponent was dead, his promise to the raven fulfilled and completed, he was left with emptiness. His current situation was clearer now, and hopelessness returned. Taros had called upon the Axel's army to assist the Grid hunters here at the main building, all as a result of Squalo's selfishness.

This wasn't supposed to happen, the army was supposed to fight against Tsuna's group at the palace. But they were here at the building, which meant that their own squad was outnumbered. Squalo cursed, he couldn't see a way to get out of this alive. But he needed to survive, because Xanxus had ordered him to.

Opening the door to the control room, he stumbled in to meet Dino with Hibari lounging at one end of the room and Spanner who was frantically working on a nearby computer. As soon as Hibari caught sight of him, he stood up and grabbed Squalo by the shirt.

'Herbivore, do you realize what you've done?' Hibari growled menacingly before slamming Squalo to the wall. Squalo coughed as his scabs were reopened by the force of the slam.

'The Axel's army is heading here,' Hibari continued, delivering a hit to Squalo's stomach with his tonfa, 'we're outnumbered, all because you let your pathetic intentions get the better of you.'

Hibari kicked him to the floor and was about to continue beating him up before Dino stopped him.

'Kyouya! Stop!' Dino commanded. Hibari gave a snarl and stopped, glaring at Dino. Before the blonde could reason further, Hibari walked out of the control room.

'I'm going to bite those nobles to death,' he announced before slamming the door behind him.

Squalo stirred slightly on the floor, he heaved himself to his feet but only to collapse again. He was in no condition to fight. Dino hurriedly came over and helped him up, leaning him against the wall.

'Shit Squalo,' he said desperately,' why couldn't you...argh…'

Dino sighed and sat back down, shaking his head. Squalo bowed his head in shame, he had single handedly doomed them all. The victory over Taros did not feel like a victory at all. Even if they cut off the communication system now, there was no stopping the Axel's private army from arriving and obliterating their squad. The switch would be safe, but death for them was inevitable.

Who knows how long Tsuna's squad will take trying to disarm the barriers, and until they do, the fifty-man group here in the main building had to hold up against over five thousand fighters. It was impossible, they were going to die, and he was the one responsible.

'Voii…I'm sorry,' Squalo growled, and he genuinely meant it. Never before has he felt so bad for losing his head.

'Haha,' Dino gave a forced chuckle, 'at least they'll have it easy looking for the switch. At least we'll die knowing they will have a better future.'

True, at least they'll all have something to look forward to. And Squalo felt slightly cheerful because of this. His own goals have been fulfilled, he could say that he can die happy.

Plus, the wounds he received from his battle with Taros remained unhealed, the laser room was down on the second floor. There was no way he could travel down there with all the fighting and commotion going on. He'll bleed to death eventually, unless a Grid hunter or an army man came and killed him first. His right arm, unless treated with laser therapy will be of no use anymore.

'You guys,' Spanner exclaimed suddenly from the computer he was working at, 'I've done it! The communication is shut off!'

'Seriously?' Dino jumped up, looking ecstatic. Spanner nodded.

'It's gone now, unless someone comes and switches it back on.'

'Fantastic!' Dino hurriedly reached for his transmitter, eager to contact Tsuna's group, 'Spanner, can you tend to Squalo's wounds?'

The mechanic complied, took a first aid kit from his bag and made his way down next to Squalo whilst Dino was listening intently to his earpiece.

'Tsuna! Tsuna! Can you hear me?' Dino shouted into his transmitter, unable to contain his excitement.

'_Dino, is that you?' _A voice from the earpiece rang out, Dino clicked a thatch which allowed Tsuna's voice to be heard throughout the small room.

'Yeah, it's me alright, sorry I couldn't –'

'_Dino! What's happening over at the main building? I saw a bunch of battleships heading toward that direction and there aren't any men here at the Axel's palace either! What's going on?' _

'I-I'll explain later…listen Tsuna, the communication is shut down. Spanner managed to do it. You guys can go in and attack the palace now, we're all counting on you to find and disable the switch.'

'_Got it, I've just given the signal for everyone to attack. But Dino, why aren't there any of the Axel's army here? I can only see his servants…'_

'That's because…' Dino closed his eyes, thinking hard on how to explain his hopeless situation, 'we…my squad screwed up when we snuck in. They managed to contact the Axel's army before we could close the communication system, so now the army is heading over here instead.'

'_No…'_

'It's true Tsuna, but don't worry about us. We need you to find that switch! That's what everything is for in the first place, don't you dare think about coming over the support us.'

'_But Dino…your squad is far outnumbered, y-you'll all…die…' _

Dino gulped and took a long deep breath before answering.

'I know Tsuna…trust me…we'll hold,' Dino said calmly.

'_I can send the rest of my group to the main building –' _

'No,' Dino replied firmly, 'that will draw attention to the fact that something is going on in the Axel's palace. We can't afford that.'

There was a buzzing silence as both sides thought desperately on how they could escape their situation. Finally, Tsuna's voice was heard again.

'_Dino, we'll find the switch as quickly as possible, and after we deactivate it we'll come and help you out. So until then…keep fighting! Don't give up!' _

'Understood,' Dino switched off his earpiece and sat down again, looking hopeless.

Spanner was still wrapping bandages over Squalo's wounds. They effectively stopped the bleeding but if Squalo were to fight, his injuries will definitely reopen. There was no hope for his right arm, the pain was intense enough to prevent him feeling anything below the elbow.

'Stop worrying you guys,' Spanner commented smoothly as he tended to Squalo's injuries, 'our squad is doing alright so far, nobody from Grid has made it up here yet.'

Dino managed a small smile at this statement, 'I hope Hibari's doing well…'

Squalo groaned, the pain in his body was no less severe at Spanner's remark but he did feel that there was a tiny bit of hope for them. As overwhelming as the odds seemed, he will not give up. He will fight until the last cell in his body has fallen, until his every essence was consumed.

If he could just make it out alive, there was a bright future waiting. If only his body did not ache like this, if only he could overcome the pain and stand. He was a fighter, and he will die fighting.

Lussuria died fighting, gave himself up for another person's freedom. Even the bastard Taros had contended to the brim of his soul.

But…what could he do in his state right now? He was a mess, he couldn't even stand on two feet.

Squalo yelled in frustration and slammed the floor with his good hand. Just sitting there and not being able to do anything was worse than dying. If he could just survive…

_No. _

He must survive. Xanxus was waiting for him, Xanxus had ordered him to survive. He will not disobey Xanxus' order.

If Squalo was fighting for anything, it was for Xanxus, for the raven. He could forgive himself for dying and giving up but he would not forgive himself for failing Xanxus' expectations. Even now, in his unpromising situation, he must survive. He will find a way to pull through. Lussuria had played his part. Fran was fighting too alongside the Varia. Xanxus would be contributing his all down at the Axel's palace.

After all this was over, they would be waiting for him.

He will not fail them.**

- TO BE CONTINUED IN THE UPCOMING FINALE-

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><p>*Macbeth link<br>**Obernewtyn link

**[A/N]** - So Squalo finally destroys Taros, isn't this what you've all been waiting for? About his back story, even my villains need _some_ development.

I personally detest having OCs (and try to avoid including them in my stories as much as possible) but I hope Taros functioned well for Squalo's character development. His purpose was so that Squalo could observe an individual like himself and what he could have become, but he was also there to drive my plot along.

Also, the big life lesson here for Squalo is that he failed to recognize Taros as also being someone who could have suffered due to the mutual noble/peasant hatred. That was the sole reason why he couldn't beat the other man previously, because despite acknowledging all his other opponents, Squalo blindly refused to see any human qualities within Taros. He thinks it was just strength, never considering the possible reasons behind that strength.

**Anyways** - hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Always try to **leave a review** (because it makes me super happy), drop a note even if it's just to indicate that you've read the chapter. And finally...

**Stay tuned for the finale**.


	9. What are you?

**[A/N] -  
><strong>Finale is finally up. Please enjoy this final installment of 'Within Pandemonium'. Just a warning though, this chapter is pretty damn long.

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><p><strong>A quick summary of all the events thus far...<strong>

It all begins when Squalo, captivated by Xanxus' outstanding display of strength risks his life to help the raven out of the grim cells of Grid's main building. There was no true justification for the swordsman's actions, apart from him thinking it shameful for someone of Xanxus' caliber to be killed so early. Immediately, the two men develop a strong bond which initially is that of mutual understanding but gradually blossoms into requited affection.

Their bond is further strengthened when Xanxus returns the favour and rescues Squalo from his impending fate of being enslaved and sold at the auction house. With Squalo now unable to return to Grid, Xanxus takes him along with his two servants Lussuria and Fran, back to his own place: The Vongola headquarters. There, despite Tsuna and the other elite members forgiving Squalo for his crimes with Grid, much of the lower ranked members reject and despise him. Nevertheless, Squalo with the help of Xanxus manages to pull through the harsh comments and hostility, establishing a limited but productive life in the headquarters.

The extent of Squalo's loyalty to Xanxus is tested when the latter in a fit of uncontrollable rage, heavily injures and almost kills the swordsman. The shark although genuinely upset at Xanxus' loss of control, forgives the man he has sworn to fight for and continues to serve him. Squalo then continues to prepare for the upcoming war against Grid and is lit with new scopes of determination when Grid brutally kills Lussuria.

And now, the day of the invasion has arrived with Squalo being assigned to the main building beside four others. Their sole objective: to deactivate Grid's communication system which will result in beneficial consequences for Tsuna's group at the Axel's palace. The mission runs smoothly at first, but due to Squalo's inability to control his emotions, Grid was notified of their presence before they could completely fulfill their objective.

Squalo manages to defeat his arch enemy Taros in an intense battle but the fight leaves him with severe injuries that will likely prevent him from undertaking any more combat. On the other hand, Spanner was able to successfully break into Grid's network and deactivate the communication system, allowing Vongola's other squads to begin their own assault on their assigned locations. However, this does not stop the Axel's private army from making their way to the main building.

Although the squad at the main building have effectively completed their role, the atmosphere is grim as nobody can see a way out of their impending doom. However, Squalo remembering Xanxus does not give up hope and swears to get out of the war alive.

We now switch to Xanxus' group at the Axel's palace…

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><p><strong>Finale –What are you?To a better future**

'But Dino…your squad is far outnumbered, y-you'll all…die…' Tsuna exclaimed indignantly into his transmitter. The device was on loudspeaker so that the five men in the area could all hear what was going on at the other end.

'_I know Tsuna…trust me…we'll hold'_

Xanxus couldn't believe his ears as he heard what had happened at the main building. He stood there scowling in annoyance and noticed that all the others apart from Tsuna were bearing the same thoughts in mind. No wonder the palace was empty, the whole army had gone over to the main building.

'I can send the rest of my group to the main building –'

'_No,_ _that will draw attention to the fact that something is going on in the Axel's palace. We can't afford that.'_

At least bucking horse had his priorities right. Tsuna looked as though he was about to give order for them to head over there anyways but Reborn shook his head dangerously. The boy struggled for a moment before accepting the truth, as much as he disliked it.

Xanxus didn't want to admit it but a large part of him also wanted to help out at the main building. He was in a state of conflict, struggling between the desire to help Squalo and the responsibility of destroying the switch. What was more important to him, Squalo or the future of the entire city? He couldn't decide, but as an act of proficient leadership, he will remain here at the palace.

_He'll be fine, the scum wouldn't dare disobey an order. _But even with that thought in mind, now that the news had reached his ears he couldn't help wanting to finish his task as soon as possible.

'Dino, we'll find the switch as quickly as possible, and after we deactivate it we'll come and help you out. So until then…keep fighting! Don't give up!' Tsuna declared firmly into the transmitter.

'_Understood.' _

The communication device was switched off abruptly and silence enveloped them again. Even though Dino did not mention how they screwed up, Xanxus couldn't help suspecting that it might have been Squalo who was responsible, after all the plan was not supremely difficult. The piece of shit might have just lost his patience at the wrong time.

'Reborn!' Tsuna pleaded to the infant, 'they'll die! There's no way they can win against five thousand –'

'No-good Tsuna,' Reborn replied calmly, 'do you intend to destroy all we've worked for these years?'

'No, of course not! But my friends are in danger-'

'Focus on the mission at hand,' Reborn interrupted, 'we need to destroy the switch. We need to acquire freedom.'

'What's the point of that freedom if I lose everyone important to me in the process?' Tsuna exclaimed, looking livid and ready to challenge Reborn.

'It will be painful, but remember that you aren't the only one whose fate is at stake. There are all the peasants too, are you telling me you wish to risk their future along with yours?'

Tsuna looked struck by Reborn's words and he scrunched up his face excruciatingly, thinking hard. Xanxus, Byakuran and Colonello watched the scene in silence, not intending to interfere although Xanxus was starting to lose a little patience at the time they were wasting.

At last, the Vongola boss seemed to understand the situation and slowly nodded.

'W-we'll look for the switch, we can't waste anymore time,' Tsuna regained his calm demeanor in a second, now his mind was completely set on their objective.

'Good,' Reborn declared looking pleased at his student's decision, 'we're having a change of plans. Instead of our whole fighting force entering the palace, it will just be the five of us. We'll be enough to take on any resistance the Axel provides and I believe it will be the most efficient with only our party searching for the switch.'

The group agreed to this plan and made their way towards the entrance of the magnificent monument.

'I'll go inform the others of our plan,' Colonello said, flying away on his hawk to the area where all their squads stood waiting.

As the infant left, the four others without hesitating broke down the front door of the palace. Hastily they spread out, heading to different areas within the palace.

'We'll meet here when we're done!' Tsuna ordered gesturing to the large central area of the palace, running out of sight and knocking down two servants as he did. Byakuran and Reborn disappeared out of sight, taking down any individual in their path.

Xanxus chose the remaining area that was not taken by his comrades. When a few of the Axel's workers appeared and tried to stop him, he killed them mercilessly unlike Tsuna. This was no time to be compassionate, the act of leaving an enemy alive out of sympathy might potentially turn against him later.

The raven continued, room after room, killing anyone who got into his way but there was no sign of anything 'switch-like'.

The palace was gigantic and it was after a few minutes of searching before Xanxus decided to head back to the meeting spot. On the way, he was met with various corpses that were skillfully killed by individuals other than himself and understood that most, if not all the personnel in the palace had been taken care of in the short time.

When he arrived back at the central area, three others were already there waiting.

'Any sign?' Colonello asked.

'Nothing,' Xanxus replied brusquely, 'where's the Byakuran scum?'

His question was answered as Byakuran came flying gracefully down the stairs dragging a noble roughly behind him. His glowing white wings disappeared as he landed and threw the noble onto the floor in front of them.

'Kufufufu look what I fished~' he commented cheerfully but nobody missed the death-like glance he gave the noble.

Xanxus recognized the figure as the Axel, this was his first time seeing him personally. Immense hatred boiled inside him but he kept his calm.

'I-I demand for an explanation!' The Axel proclaimed on the floor, looking flabbergasted. Byakuran gave him a hard kick which caused him to howl in pain. Recovering and looking fearfully at the intruders of his palace, the blonde noble hastily reached for his mobile phone.

'Hello? Hello? This is an emergency, is anyone there-'

Byakuran swiftly kicked the phone out of the Axel's hands and Xanxus stepped on it cleanly, a sharp crunch echoing in the hall as the device was crushed beneath his feet. Both men stared down at the noble with the deepest look of disgust. The blonde whimpered as he spared a glance at the worthless remains of his communicating tool.

'Pathetic shit,' Xanxus snarled, 'don't even think about calling the other scum.'

'I-I'll have your head for this!' Pohlepa exclaimed frightfully, attempting to get to his feet. Xanxus brought his knee into the Axel's face as he was in the midst of getting up and before the noble could go flying to the other side of the hall, Byakuran caught him by the hair and held him up.

'Hmm, you're helpless here noble,' Byakuran said with a smile, 'we've disabled your communication system so you're stuck with us.'

Pohlepa gaped in disbelief as he heard this and struggled to remove the iron grip on his hair with no success.

'Byakuran, enough!' Tsuna commanded calmly. His childish manner was no longer present, a flame glowed brightly in the middle of his forehead and his eyes burned a fierce orange.

'Kufufufu, whatever,' Byakuran laughed and threw the Axel over to the others. He relaxed his posture and folded his arms, interested in watching how Tsuna was going to deal with this.

'Axel Pohlepa,' Tsuna began in a polite manner, 'do you know who I am?'

The Axel frantically shook his head but in his frightened state he still managed to look revolted at the notion of a peasant addressing him.

'I'm the head of Vongola,' Tsuna declared firmly.

'V-Vongola?' Pohlepa jumped slightly but gathered his wits quickly, 'you lowly peasants! How dare you intrude upon my-'

'Our intentions are not-'

'Halt your spurious explanations!' Pohlepa exclaimed in a flustered manner, 'I know very well what you Vongola intend to do! You wish to overthrow me do you not? You desire my power, my position –'

'You misunderstand,' Tsuna replied gently, 'we merely wish to negotiate a solution on a matter concerning the management of this city.'

'I don't trust you filthy animals!' Pohlepa roared, backing away slightly on the floor, only to be blocked by Xanxus and Byakuran standing behind him like two solid pillars. 'Heed my words and leave me be or my army will be here at my command to decimate you!'

'Consider your position trash,' Xanxus growled hatefully.

'Xanxus, let me deal with this,' Tsuna implored. The raven gave an impatient grunt and ceased to articulate his thoughts any further.

'Pohlepa,' Tsuna began to explain considerately, 'Vongola forces are battling against Grid as we speak, your men will certainly be defeated. You currently have no means to call for assistance, if you want to escape this conflict unharmed I suggest you offer us your cooperation.'

'I absolutely refuse to assist you Vongola!'

Upon hearing this, Byakuran grabbed a small dagger from his belt and lifted the Axel by his neck forcefully.

'Kufufufu, we'll have to resort to torture then,' he suggested and held the dagger dangerously close to Pohlepa's face, 'which eye should I cut out first?'

The Axel gave a terrified squeak and struggled vigorously in the grip that Byakuran held him in.

'No! Byakuran we don't need to employ violence,' Tsuna said indignantly.

'Shut up brat,' Xanxus interrupted, 'your naivety is pissing me off.'

'Tsuna, I don't think we'll get anywhere with this guy without force,' Colonello told him. Tsuna realizing that he has lost, unwillingly watched as his teammates dealt with the noble.

When Pohlepa saw that Byakuran was dead serious about torturing him, he finally gave in.

'No! Stop! What do you want from me? Get that thing away,' Pohlepa shook violently as the blade was less than an inch from his face, 'I-I'll tell you everything!'

'Where's the switch?' Byakuran asked in a dangerously calm voice.

'W-what switch?'

In one swift motion, Byakuran inserted the blade into the side of Pohlepa's face. Slowly, he dragged the blade across the flesh, splitting the soft skin in half like a knife in butter.

'Stop! Stop!' Pohlepa was on the verge of sobbing, a trickle of blood dropped down his face from the cut, 'I don't know what you're talking about!'

'The barriers surrounding this city,' Xanxus growled, patience rapidly disintegrating, 'there's a switch to remove them, where is it?'

'I-I don't know!'

Byakuran made another cut, this one deeper. Blood splashed out and Pohlepa gave a howl of pain.

'Please, I really don't know!'

Byakuran was about to properly stab the Axel before Reborn stopped him.

'Byakuran, he doesn't seem to be lying this time.'

Byakuran paused and glanced at the infant. Shrugging, he dropped the noble into the floor but the dagger remained in his hand.

'Listen Pohlepa,' Reborn began, 'is there an area that you aren't familiar with in this palace?'

The five men watched the Axel intently, the noble recovered himself a little but did not talk. Xanxus gave a hard kick to Pohlepa's face, right on the wounds that Byakuran inflicted a moment ago.

'Answer the fucking question.'

Pohlepa whimpered and casted a fearful glance at the raven. Xanxus' ruby eyes burned with wrath as he looked at the noble, the savage gleam in his eye prompted Pohlepa to reply.

'T-there's an area, underground –'

'Show us,' Byakuran grabbed the Axel's hair and threw him forward. Pohlepa crawled to his feet and reluctantly lead the five Vongola men past a heap of rooms and into a desolated small area near a shelf of books in one of the rooms. Hesitantly, he took two books out from the shelf and immediately, the shelf opened to reveal a hidden circular stairway. Then, he paused as if waiting for them to enter first.

'You in first,' Byakuran smiled widely before pushing Pohlepa roughly into the stairway. The five men followed after him, glancing around and taking in their new surroundings.

'Be on your guard,' Reborn warned them. Xanxus grunted softly and studied the compact staircase as he walked down. It wasn't long before they all reached the ground, a small circular area met their eyes. There were gigantic double doors at the end of the chamber, two tombstones were stuck in the ground side by side a few metres in front of the metal doors.

'Behind those doors sit my family's greatest treasure,' Pohlepa explained meekly, 'but how to enter there is beyond me.'

Xanxus walked forward and observed the two tombstones and felt his teammates do the same, there were symbols carved into them. He traced the intricate engravings, not able to understand a single word of it. There was a moment of silence as everyone tried to decipher the codes written on the tombstones, and how to open the gate.

'I'm almost certain that the switch is in there,' Reborn announced finally, 'but how to get in?'

Xanxus continued to stare at the symbols on one of the tombstones, he ran his finger down the smooth rock. There was a single word carved neatly at the centre of the stone, standing out from the miniature text underneath it. Xanxus examined the word slowly, the first letter was a wonky upside down 'U' shape. It looked like a lower case 'n'. He went on to the other letters and realized with a jolt what the letters spelt.

'Noble…' Xanxus murmured softly but in the silence it was enough for everyone to hear, 'it says noble.'

Colonello gave a gasp at the other rock, 'I know now! This one says peasant!'

The others gathered around to scrutinize their discoveries. Indeed, the words on the rocks did resemble the words 'noble' and 'peasant'. Reborn looked at them silently but he too could not grasp a reason as to why the words were carved on the rock.

'What do you think of this, Tsuna?' Reborn asked his student. The boy thought hard before answering.

'My hyper intuition tells me…it's a blood sacrifice,' Tsuna said slowly, 'do you trust my instinct?'

'I expected nothing less from Pohplear…' Reborn commented.

Xanxus suddenly understood the meaning behind the two tombstones now. If the brat was correct, then blood from a noble as well as a peasant would be needed to open the metal doors.

'Blood from a noble is easy-peasy,' Byakuran immediately grabbed Pohlepa nearby, took out his dagger and created a deep gash onto the Axel's arm. The blood splashed cleanly onto the tombstone displaying 'noble'. When the liquid made contact with the rock, the tombstone began to glow.

Tsuna motioned for the knife and cut his own arm over the other rock with 'peasant'. The tombstone like its partner began to glow too. When both rocks were radiating the eerie light, a loud cranking sound was heard as the double doors slowly moved apart, opening up to a brand new area. The six men stood gaping in awe at the new room.

'Everyone needs to stay focused, Kora!' Colonello commanded seriously, 'the place was probably built by the first Axel himself. Who knows what kind of traps he included to prevent people from finding the switch.'

'Colonello's right, we need to take it slow,' Reborn warned, eyeing the room ahead of him critically.

Xanxus didn't like taking anything slowly, especially now when Squalo was about to be overwhelmed by Grid forces. Nevertheless, he took the Arcobalenoes' warnings carefully. What kind of switch was this that required so much effort to find? When he had previously imagined it, he always thought it would be a system-like structure which could be turned off at will.

'Y-you opened the door to my family's greatest treasure…' Pohlepa did not seem to hear anything that Reborn or Colonello had said, instead he was gazing at the opened doors mouth wide with wonder. Without hesitating, he leapt forward but Byakuran was quick to react. The white haired man grabbed the back of Pohlepa's robes before the noble could stumble into the new room.

'Not so fast~' Byakuran sang but there was a deadly tone in his voice, 'you can be our scapegoat.'

Tsuna looked dismayed when he heard this but did not voice his thoughts on the matter. Instead, he followed his comrades to the entrance of the newly opened room. The party was met with a room of white. White walls, white ceiling, white everything. Xanxus looked around him, there were pathways and walls blocking his view, the place reminded him greatly of a maze.

There was also a trace of improbability that the room left on him, as if once he entered there would be no escape. True enough, when the six individuals all stepped into the white area, the doors behind them shut abruptly. Nobody wanted to voice the notion that they were now locked deep beneath the Axel's palace, with no evident pathway for escape. The only way was forward, into the labyrinth that Axel Pohplear had skillfully crafted.

Pohlepa didn't seem to perceive that the doors had suddenly closed behind him, he was more interested in what treasure lay in the chamber. Before anyone could stop him, he ran forward to the nearest turn eager to get past the maze. Tsuna suddenly seemed to notice something.

'Wait! No-'

But it was too late, a laser shot from one of the metal holes in the wall onto Pohlepa as he was running. The force of the laser burnt the Axel to crisp, the man was reduced to dark sooty ashes which fell to the floor in a neat pile. The five Vongola elites stared at the scene in front of them, taking a while to realize what had happened. Even Xanxus was a little taken back at the speed in which the Axel died, but most of all at the destructive power of that laser.

One careless step and he could be the one getting struck by that laser, if that happens he wont be able to see Squalo again…

_Fuck_, he growled in irritation, he didn't have time to be thinking of that damn shark right now. Not when the difficulty of his own mission was so unexpectedly high. None of them were expecting a goddamn maze in the midst of the palace.

'I sense traps everywhere,' Tsuna warned, evidently disturbed by the Axel's abrupt death, 'only my hyper intuition can detect them.'

'What else can you detect?' Colonello asked.

'An energy at the centre of this maze, it must be where the switch is.'

Reborn nodded and motioned for Tsuna to lead the way, the boy willingly complied. Xanxus found himself depending on Tsuna's ability for survival and he detested it, but if he wanted to make it out alive it was the only option he had.

The group felt themselves walking for minutes, turning various corners only to meet more lengths of white wall. Xanxus felt bored even, as they walked and walked without the slightest trouble in their path. All this time had passed and he had not even enjoyed a proper battle. He wondered if Squalo had managed to defeat Taros, or if they had even crossed paths in the chaos. He wondered if the shark would place their promise before the war-

'Xanxus!'

Xanxus woke from his thoughts to see a large metal pike flying towards him. He sidestepped ungracefully as the weapon missed his vitals by an inch and found its way neatly into the wall behind him. Somewhere in his heart a spark of fear made its presence and as much as he tried to beat it down, there was no denying that if it weren't for Tsuna's warning along with his own inhuman reflexes, he would be dead by now.

'Stay focused,' Reborn reminded him, 'I would have expected better from you of all people.'

Xanxus scowled but didn't complain. He managed to subdue the panic but the solid truth grew clearer as the seconds passed. He might not make it out alive…

This maze right here was beyond anything that he had faced before. The unpredictability, the danger and the potential the area held was overwhelming even for him. Alone, he could annihilate thousand-man armies, conquer any fighter who came into his path but he knew he could not make his way through this labyrinth. His inability to do so brought his attention to the weakness which he strove to avoid. _A weakness? Impossible, because he had none. _

'Scum, how close are we to the switch?' Xanxus growled, maybe talking would take his mind off things.

'Not far off,' Tsuna replied absent mindedly for his attention was solely focused on identifying any possible traps that could spring up. They were walking for another couple of minutes before they came to a wider and taller block of path.

As soon as they stepped into this path, many different beams of laser suddenly switched on from the walls ahead in front of them. The narrow beams criss-crossed and formed what looked like a laser net coming from the walls.* It provided an effective barrier to prevent anyone and anything from crossing as the net ran about two metres tall and spread in front of their path completely.

Before the group could figure out how to travel past the barrier, the net began moving toward them at a rapid speed.

'Shit, Reborn hold onto me!' Colonello yelled before the net got dangerously close. For a split second, everyone was in their own world, using their own means to avoid being sliced and incinerated into a million forgotten pieces.

Without thinking, Xanxus pulled out both his guns and fired downwards, successfully launching himself into flight. He was pleased to see that the height he gained placed him in a safe distance from the edges of the net below. Utilizing another strong blast from his gun, he performed a perfect forward-flip and landed on the other side of the net with a thud.

Looking back, he noticed that the net continued to move but in the other direction, down the empty hall that they passed through. Looking near the ceiling, his teammates were all airborne. Byakuran was hovering calmly, white wings flapping in fluid motions, Colonello's hawk managed to hold both him and Reborn, Tsuna was back in his hyper mode, eyes burning brightly and hands firing a continuous blast which kept him up. When they all realized that the net had disappeared, they landed on the ground beside Xanxus.

Nobody exchanged any words or glances, instead they silently walked onwards together. Xanxus trudged along, grimly anticipating what they could meet next. What if they couldn't avoid the next one? He didn't blame himself for worrying slightly because from the shared silence around him he could tell that the others were thinking the same. No mortal could _not_ worry in their situation.

Tsuna suddenly halted in his step, causing the four others following to immediately do the same.

'A trap?' Byakuran suggested. Tsuna shook his head and placed both hands on the wall beside him. He seemed interested in the blank white wall and felt it for a few moments.

'The fuck are you doing brat?' Xanxus snarled. Tsuna paused before answering.

'Xanxus, can you blast this wall apart?'

Xanxus wasted no time hesitating at Tsuna's suggestion, he pulled out one of his guns and sent a fireball to the wall. The force of the flames was so strong it blasted the white metal cleanly apart, leaving a smoking but large hole, big enough for a human to fit through. Tsuna nodded at the hole and motioned for the four of them to follow him through.

'I sensed the energy growing strong on this side,' he explained, 'if I'm not mistaken, this will lead us directly to the central area.'

Hearing this, the others quickened their pace through the hole. Sure enough, when they reached the other side they were met with another area but considerably larger, even larger than the Axel's own hall. This one was evidently the main part of the maze, the centre.

It was somewhat decorated, there were metal statues situated around the circular walls, other than that the place was empty. White tiles covered every inch of the floor, and at the centre of the room stood the most prominent statue of all. In front of the statue was a rectangular stone block with a glowing pink orb sitting on it. The party made their way to the centre where the orb and the silver statue were.

Xanxus was not interested in the orb yet, even though it glowed with an intense foreign energy. His eyes were fixated on the gorgeous statue next to the orb. It looked so life-like, so real, whichever craftsman shaped it must have been a master at his job. Each detail was intricately carved, when Xanxus went closer he could even see the pores on the statue's skin.

'This is the first Axel, Pohplear,' commented Reborn staring up at the statue.

'How nostalgic, to see his damned figure again,' Colonello growled, eyes blazing with hatred. The two infants were also immersed in the living monument of the man who transformed them into their cursed selves.

The Axel was wearing a battle suit instead of the traditional royal robes, he held no weapons and stood there fierce and proud. The most prominent aspect of the statue was the pendant handing from his neck.

Xanxus didn't like the statue at all, it seemed almost too real to be a frozen metal figure. When he stood near enough he felt as though the statue was _breathing_ and living, once or twice he thought he even heard a heart beating softly. He thought it was his imagination until he went to observe the pink crystal orb next to the statue. When he was beside it and gazing into its smoky depths the beating heart grew slightly louder until he could deny it no longer. There was definitely something strange about everything in this room.

As he looked around, he noticed that none of the other statues were shaped as intricately as the one of the first Axel. He had no problem accepting that they were all normal statues, but there was definitely an element of eeriness which graced the Axel's statue.

'It's this orb,' Tsuna said, examining the pinkish glow it gave off with evident curiosity, 'Reborn?'

The two infants turned away from the statue and moved over to also look at the orb.

'Reborn, I have a feeling that this sphere is related to the switch,' Tsuna told his mentor, 'but I'm certain something bad is going to happen if we touch it…'

'I can hear a heart beating when I get close,' commented Byakuran.

Xanxus backed away from the orb slightly so that the Arcobaleno could come closer. So it wasn't just him hearing that unnerving heartbeat. After a while of observing, the infants could detect nothing more than what was already established.

'We have no idea what the orb is, or its function,' Reborn said, 'the only way to find out is to touch it.'

'But – '

'There's no time to waste Tsuna!' Reborn raised his voice, sounding even impatient. Tsuna nodded reluctantly.

'Prepare yourself for the worst!' Colonello commanded and placed his hand on the orb.

The five individuals backed away from the orb which started to glow brighter. Xanxus moved one hand on his gun, ready to attack or defend at any time. The others set up their own defenses and readied themselves for anything that could potentially attack. All eyes were on the pink sphere standing atop the stone block. As the seconds passed, it shone brighter and brighter as if something was burning inside it.

The swirls moved around rapidly until the object began to sizzle and shake slowly at first, then more erratically. Something was hissing and stirring inside, like a beast awoken from a timely period of slumber. The Vongola elites watched the scene intently, frozen in their steps. The orb was just shaking as if it were about to explode and release a hefty amount of energy.

Then suddenly, the smoky pink gas trapped inside the orb began to seep out although the surface of the orb remained smooth. The substance was escaping the glassy confines and hovering around the shiny sphere, moving around rapidly and searching for a place to go. When what seemed like all the gas had escaped from the orb, the object ceased to glow and shake. It lay there unmoved and still whilst the pinky gas swirled outside it.

The gas then gathered around closer and closer until all the substance was condensed into a small blob. Before Xanxus or anyone else could properly glance at the pink blob, the substance shot backwards and straight onto the pendant of the Axel's statue.

As soon as the substance hit the metal, the statue began to glow in a similar fashion. Color began to seep into the features of the first Axel, his eyes, his skin, his armor. The pinky swirls were now trapped inside the gemstone attached to the pendant and the owner of the pendant stood there more lifelike than ever.

Without warning, the statue began to move. The action almost shocked Xanxus out of his wits but he stood his ground, gazing with horrific fascination at what had happened. The pink substance had given life to the statue! He heard Tsuna yell out in start as the statue, or what was previously, began to walk over to them, step by step. The movement was awkward at first but after a couple of strides it became smoother.

When the rebirthed figure was a few metres in front of the group, it began to speak.

'I had guessed,' the Axel's voice was deep yet oddly calming at the same time, 'that someone would eventually threaten to remove the barriers that I had created.'

He cast his deep blue eyes at each individual of the Vongola group, scrutinizing them. When those eyes met Xanxus', the raven gazed back with greater intensity, so much that the Axel looked away with his lips curving into a smile.

'You lot seem like an impressive bunch,' he commented, studying each of them slowly.

'Pohplear,' Reborn said, eyes blazing with acrimony.

'You five wish to fight me?' Pohplear asked although the statement sounded more like a warning.

'No!' Tsuna shouted before anyone could answer. Xanxus stared at the boy curiously, wandering how he was planning to talk their way of out the shit they entered. The first Axel was infamous for his inhuman fighting strength, the only solution he could think of was to engage in combat with the legendary figure.

'We only wish to remove the barriers surrounding this city,' Tsuna explained.

'Which amounts to pretty much the same thing,' Pohplear laughed, 'you wish to oppose me.'

'We only desire to find the switch!' Tsuna implored but upon hearing this, the Axel laughed even harder.

'Foolish peasant…' he mocked, 'I am the switch.'

A sudden realization dawned on Xanxus as he heard this. He saw his comrades' expressions of shock at the news but he was not intimidated or dispirited the least. If this living replica of the first Axel was indeed the switch, then all they needed to do was defeat him. He almost grinned at this idea and the desire to fight was growing in his body. Finally he can battle after entering this war and waiting whilst others were risking their lives.

Savage excitement continued to burn as the fact started to sink in, even though he was most likely going to 'share' this prey with four others, he didn't mind. This opponent was likely going to be the most skillful and powerful of all he's faced up to now, he couldn't have asked for a better one.

'Scum,' Xanxus spoke in a voice of unhidden impulse, 'we just need to defeat you.'

'How obnoxious, being addressed as scum by a lowly peasant,' Pohplear gazed at Xanxus again with a hint of anger in his eyes, 'you'll be the first to die then.'

Xanxus grabbed both of his guns and was about to launch into attack before Tsuna held out a hand to halt him.

'Wait Xanxus,' it was not Tsuna who spoke but Reborn. Xanxus cast an annoyed glance at the infant but was moved to see the message written in his eyes: _you can't beat him alone_.

Xanxus almost snarled but stopped in his step, trying to accept the truth. Who was Reborn to say that he didn't stand a chance against the first Axel? For a moment he wanted to attack anyways but then his rational side held him back. He cursed silently for almost allowing his excitement to overcome him.

'I see your friends have the common sense in which you lack,' Pohplear commented sardonically.

'If it comes down to it, we _will_ fight you Pohplear,' Colonello threatened.

'Whether you are planning to fight me or not is none of my business,' Pohplear replied calmly, 'but just a warning though; I cannot be defeated by noble or peasant alike. So it's pointless in trying.'

Xanxus was starting to get irritated by the cockiness the Axel was showing. Plus, they were wasting time here talking, Squalo might already have….

_Don't think about that…_Xanxus gave an inward shudder and drove his attention back to his own situation. Tsuna looked as though he was still planning to negotiate with the corrupted ruler and was trying to find the right words to express his ideas. Pohplear didn't bother waiting though.

'I commend you peasants on how far you've come in trying to remove the switch, but sadly your journey is at an end. For as long as I'm here, the barriers will remain. Only when I'm defeated will they disappear, but I'll repeat again, I will not fall under the hands of a noble or a peasant. This is my ultimate move to isolate Tephire city from the outside.'

Without warning he leapt forward and aimed a punch at Tsuna who managed to react to the attack and block it barely. At this move, nobody decided to hold back anymore. Drawing his guns Xanxus fired two successive blasts at Pohplear who was still hand to hand with Tsuna. As the balls of energy found their mark, an explosion occurred, hindering the two fighters from view.

'Don't hurt your own team!' Colonello yelled at him.

Xanxus grunted and withdrew, observing hard at the smoke which was clearing away. Tsuna looked slightly damaged by the attack from the guns but Pohplear did not have a single scratch on him. He didn't even bother dodging the blast, and yet the energy made no effect on his skin or strangely enough, his garments either. Tsuna coughed slightly from the force of the hit but Xanxus did not feel a hint of remorse. Whether his teammates lived or died did not matter to him, if they got in the way of his attack then they'll consequently pay the price.

Tsuna looked slightly shocked about something, and took a few steps back.

'This guy isn't human,' he said looking at the Axel in awe, 'he's…like metal.'

Byakuran as if trying to confirm this, flew forward and delivered a hard kick to the Axel's face. Again, the ruler did not try to dodge and was sent crashing against the wall. Byakuran winced slightly, and bent down to observe the leg which had initiated the kick. His white dragon danced around him playfully.

'Tsunayoshi is right,' the white haired man revealed, scowling a little, 'he's in human form but his skin feels like the silver he was made of.'

Xanxus understood, that's why his flames did not deal much visible damage to the man. He watched as the Axel slowly stood up from the pile of destroyed wall around him and walked calmly back to the midst of the scene.

'Must I repeat myself?' He commented lazily, 'your attacks will not work.'

The five men stood apart but all were trying to determine how to launch their next assault.

'Why do you do this?' Tsuna yelled, unable to help himself anymore. He looked as though he couldn't understand Pohplear's reasoning behind his actions. 'Why are you so intent on isolating this city?'

Pohplear paused and cast a look of deepest hatred at the five individuals standing before him.

'You peasants possess the power of flames,' he started, 'we nobles are not blessed with that ability. Before I ruled this city, when Tephire was connected and involved with the other cities, people with my blood were so often spat upon and ridiculed. Placed below your kind because we were physically inferior in strength, ruled over by your kind no matter how hard we trained or fought because the difference in blood meant a difference in strength which was not ours to blame.'

Xanxus listened but the majority of his attention was intent on working out how to defeat the beast in front of him. A living statue where normal attacks did no damage, a being which claimed that could not be defeated by anyone with either noble or peasant blood. In the worst case, he'll have to…reveal everything. But he didn't want to resort to that.

'Is it our fault that we lack the necessary genetic properties to produce flames?' Pohplear continued, 'The same imbalance of power existed previously, except that peasants were those dominating nobles, using us as slaves, forcefully manipulating us due to our weakness. I abhorred this distinction between our kind, so I grew strong and took over this city as it lacked a ruler. When I became Axel, I coined the labels 'peasant' and 'noble'. Furthermore I spread the notion that peasants were inferior to us nobles by blood. This was revenge for all the mistreatment you peasants bestowed on us before, now you'll pay the price. My plan worked, after I created barriers around this city, only my laws were perceived as the truth. If I ever removed the barriers, Tephire will be under the influence of the other cities and we nobles will be pushed to the bottom again.'

The bastard had finished his explanation, now Xanxus was stuck. He still couldn't figure out a way to defeat the Axel and his inability to do so lead to frustration.

'I promise!' Tsuna replied determinedly after hearing Pohplear's deduction, 'I'll change things! When I switch off the barriers, I'll have us peasants living in peace with nobles.'

Pohplear gave a deep, scornful laugh when he heard Tsuna's words.

'Curse me to hell before I place my trust on a peasant,' the Axel replied, readying himself for another attack.

Xanxus couldn't care less about the Axel's reasons for locking Tephire up or doing the things that he did. There will always be a party who suffers under the hands of another, there will always be scorn and ridicule between different classes and groups. Sometimes you just needed to find that one individual who understands you, and fight through the injustice together. Xanxus had grown up learning that.

And the person he had finally found and connected with would be killed if he didn't hurry the fuck up and work out a plan. Xanxus watched impatiently as Tsuna and Pohplear clashed fists again, the Vongola boss choosing to dodge the blows instead of blocking them to reduce the pain. He watched as the pendant danced around the Axel's neck as its owner moved about gracefully. At the sight of the glowing pink gemstone, Xanxus' mind cleared and all his confusions were answered.

_Fuck!_ If only he had realized earlier! He looked around to find the other people in his squad watching the fight between Tsuna and Pohplear ensue, trying to assist their boss in any way. He ran towards them, eager to enlighten them on his theories.

'The gemstone,' he stated brusquely to the other three. They gathered around him listening, 'fuck, I think we need to destroy that thing.'

Byakuran gave a small 'ah' as he too realized what the key was. Reborn nodded and called to Tsuna.

'Tsuna, hold him for a minute!'

Tsuna turned around quickly and nodded, resuming his fight with Pohplear with much more determination. As the boy was holding him off, the four other Vongola elites quickly tried to formulate a plan.

'Nice deduction there brat!' Colonello looked pleased at Xanxus, 'we need to pin the bastard down if we want a clear hit of that pendant.'

'Leave that to me,' Reborn said, 'Xanxus, Byakuran, I want Pohplear's hands in plain sight. Is that clear?'

Xanxus growled and gave a 'don't order me around' before he and Byakuran leapt off to fulfill Reborn's requirements. The Axel was caught up deeply in the fight, leaving his back empty for the two men to sneak up from behind.

As soon as he got close enough, Xanxus quickly grabbed one of Pohplear's arms and lifted it with all his strength, forcing it straight and outwards so the Axel's palms were wide open. He saw Byakuran do the same with Pohplear's other arm and glanced over at Reborn. The infant was ready for them, holding his small pistol in one hand, he shot two rapid bullets which found their way squarely into their targets.

As soon as the small bullet pierced the metal-like substance of the Axel's hands, the bullet transformed into a sharp claw-like structure which spread through the hands. It then released a small chain which imbedded itself to the white tiled floor, effectively dragging the Axel's hands down with it. The ruler fell to his knees, looking at the two hooks which held his hand in place with surprise.

He tried without success to lift his hands up but they were pinned solidly to the ground, he couldn't move at all. The metal which he was made of only reinforced the strength of the hold.

'What's going on?' Tsuna asked, surprised at the sudden interference of Xanxus and Byakuran.

'Tsuna, destroy that pendant,' Reborn called to him, 'use your X-burner!'

Tsuna looked at the pink glowing gem and understanding fell upon his face. He nodded quickly and moved his arms into stance. Xanxus hastily jumped out of the way to avoid being incinerated by the upcoming attack. For a moment, Xanxus thought the brat was going to let his compassionate personality stop him from delivering the killing blow, but he was mistaken. Without a hint of hesitation, Tsuna blasted right on the pendant, flames engulfing the vulnerable gem and expanding. After the attack was finished, Tsuna stepped back, waiting intently on what was going to emerge from the smoke.

Xanxus watched too, wondering vaguely whether Pohplear had managed to die from the attack or if he really was unable to be harmed by peasants. If Tsuna's attack truly did not work, then he really would have to take matters into his own hands.

A chilling laugh echoed through the gigantic area as Xanxus' worst suspicions were confirmed. The smoke cleared and Pohplear was as good as new, although his hands were still held in place by the bullets Reborn had used.

'What did I say you peasants?' His voice was no longer deep and calm, but maniacal, 'nobody with peasant or noble blood will be able to destroy me! You were right about the pendant though! But how are you going to destroy it when I'm immune to your attacks?'

Xanxus snarled and felt his own anger rise dangerously. This was seriously taking longer than necessary, and the Axel's persistence was pissing him off greatly. Slowly, he strode over, half reluctantly but determined to play his part. He was somewhat afraid of what the others would think of him once he did what he was about to do, but there was no choice. He couldn't afford to waste anymore time, not when there was a war going on above him.

Roughly, he pushed Tsuna out of the way and stood in front of the Axel who still had the malicious gleam in his eye. Xanxus grabbed one of his guns and leveled it plainly with the pendant dangling loosely on the Axel's neck. He began to charge the weapon, steadily allowing his flames to channel through his hands and onto the metal. The black gun glowed orange as it was being powered up by flames.

'Xanxus, what are you planning to do?' Colonello yelled from his spot, 'you're a peasant! Your attacks won't work!'

'Fool!' Pohplear hissed, 'no peasant can – '

'Shut up,' Xanxus said in a low voice, 'I'm not a peasant**.'

The Axel's eyes widened and his smile disappeared as he heard this but it was too late. The gun in front of his chest was prepared and radiating with energy. Xanxus stared deep into the Axel's blue eyes before calmly pulling the trigger, sending a small but heavy energy-condensed beam through the noble's chest. The power of the flames managed to completely destroy the gem, as well as create a fist sized hole in the Axel's torso.

The other Vongola men stared in shock as Xanxus' attack actually dealt damage, unable to believe their eyes. Pohplear choked and spluttered as the pendant was destroyed and only useless pieces of chain hung down his neck. The wound in his chest, instead of oozing blood started to disintegrate rapidly as if every cell were being ripped apart from the other. The Axel began to shake erratically as the wound grew bigger and bigger. A sizzling sound was heard again, the ruler was being burnt and destroyed from the inside.

Various parts of Pohplear's body began to disappear into dust now, his legs, his arms, his torso. He looked down and stared in horror as his own torso began to disappear and fade away, he glared fearfully at Xanxus, like he was a monster from hell.

'What…are…you?' Pohplear spluttered with his final breath, before his face exploded into millions of miniscule shards of glowing dust. Xanxus watched him disappear without emotion.

_What are you?_ How many times had he been asked that question? Every time he killed someone, the same question would meet his ears. It drove him insane, because other people expected him to know something that he didn't. He even asked himself so many times, what was he?

The raven turned around to face his teammates who were all staring at him in a new light. He didn't know why it made him feel so uncomfortable to be aware that he was completely different to the rest of them. He didn't know why he felt the need to help them defeat the Axel and disclose his true identity. If Squalo wasn't in desperate need of his help, he wouldn't have bothered.

'X-Xanxus,' Tsuna gazed at him in wonder, 'you're not a peasant?'

Xanxus ignored him and walked towards the two infants who still looked at him in surprise, wondering what on earth he could be if he wasn't a peasant or a noble. Before anyone could speak, Byakuran flew near and landed next to them, smiling in fascination.

'Well this is a pleasant surprise,' he commented, observing Xanxus with interest, 'it certainly helped us out didn't it?'

'That's right,' Colonello laughed, looking slightly proud at what Xanxus did, 'the barriers are gone now, I can feel it.'

Reborn nodded, Xanxus ignored his intense gaze. Tsuna ran over to the group, smiling for the first time since the war started.

'What are you?' He asked the raven politely.

Xanxus averted his eyes, deciding whether or not to voice his true answer.

'I don't know,' he murmured, suddenly feeling ashamed and empty. It was the genuine answer, he did not know what or who he was, or if he was even human. The secret he had kept to himself his whole life, his misty heritage that he wasn't even sure of. Now four others were also aware of this fact, how would they react?

He didn't want to admit it but having no solid confirmation of what he was and where he came from left a vulnerable chunk of his identity empty. No matter how much training he did, how many people he killed, it never managed to fill that emptiness. It was that curiosity and desire to know his own history and his own birth which stimulated him to assist Vongola. Maybe he could find the answer one day in another city.

Tsuna looked on the verge of asking Xanxus more, but when he saw that the raven did not like talking about the subject he stopped himself.

'Ah, there's still the war!' Tsuna hit himself on the head, in a much more cheerful mood, 'come on guys, Dino's squad is struggling at the main building, we need to help them.'

They nodded, Xanxus brushed away thoughts concerning his heritage when he remembered Squalo's situation.

'My intuition tells me that the area above us is empty,' Tsuna said, looking up at the ceiling, 'we can just destroy the top-'

Before he could finish, Xanxus, Colonello and Byakuran all sent their attacks to the roof, causing a huge explosion and a dangerous amount of debris falling beside them. The ceiling cracked and the force of the attack left a spacious hole on the white material. Blasting himself upwards with his guns, Xanxus flew through the hole, escaping the horrific white labyrinth once and for all. His teammates flew out behind him, yelling with delight as the eerie white walls were no longer surrounding them.

Softly, they landed near the hole and looked around. Xanxus noticed that they were back at the entrance hall. Quickly, without waiting for the others he made his way outside, eager to find the Varia and leave.

'Everyone, take your squads to the main building! We're going to help!' Tsuna yelled out to the four of them. They all gave their silent agreement.

Xanxus found his squad waiting impatiently at the edge of the front lawn of the palace. Bel was talking quietly to Fran who was the first to spot Xanxus running towards them.

'Ah, boss has returned,' the illusionist pointed. Levi's head spun around, when his eyes fell upon Xanxus, he stood up straighter and even saluted.

'Boss! Your orders?'

'Scum, we're going to the main building,' Xanxus told him quickly and got on their private van. Bel and Fran quickly followed him on, Levi took the wheel as usual. They took to the skies along with many other Vongola vans which were also ordered.

Finally, his shit was over. Now he just had to destroy a bunch of Grid hunters and army men, stuff like that was child play to him. His previous worry was no longer present, he was sure that Squalo was in the building somewhere, waiting for him and holding his ground. After all, he didn't fall in love with weak shits who couldn't defend themselves.

The removal of the switch also removed a heavy load from his shoulders, he had a future to look forward to now. He just had to survive and pull through, then he'll be free, they'll all be free.

Xanxus stood at the entrance of the van as it was flying, not bothering to close the door. He allowed the wind to catch the dangling beads in his hair as he looked ahead at the main building coming into view. Levi started to descend the van slowly, allowing Xanxus to grasp a clear image of what was happening around the building. The Axel's army men were flooding into the single entrance of the tower, however they seemed to be making slow progress. There must be something on one of the floors blocking their path because apart from those trying to get in, the rest were lounging about, waiting for their turn.

Without warning, Xanxus jumped off the van as it was descending. He landed around a hundred metres from the entrance of the building. The Grid hunters and army men around him gave a start when they saw him but he effortlessly blasted them dead with his gun.

His eyes were focused solely on the monument ahead of him and the small entrance in which men were attempting to make their way through. His eyes glazed over the gigantic floors which ran high up to the sky. Squalo was in one of those floors, he had been assigned to reach the control room so he must still be near that area.

And those bastards at the entrance, trying to make their way in to give him trouble. Xanxus' stomach bubbled in anger at the thought of a Grid hunter cutting Squalo down and delivering the mortal blow. He heard other vans landing behind him, Vongola's reinforcements were finally here.

Waiting no longer, he ran forward intending to kill every single one of the scum who were huddled up at the entrance. He was going to blast his way through that place, into the damn building where Squalo was waiting for him.

He wasn't going to rest until his shark was safe in his arms.

~x.x.x.x~

Squalo opened his eyes and the control room met his gaze once more. They had been waiting here for ages now, and still no fighter had made it up to the top floor. He couldn't help feeling assured that their squad was holding off quite well against the forces, but there was also the worry at the back of his mind that something had gone horribly wrong.

Dino was sitting there quietly, twiddling his thumbs and humming a soft tune to himself. Spanner was observing the machines and systems in the room with great interest. Squalo grumbled, he tried moving his body but the wounds would ache in result. Slowly he tried standing up, ignoring the pain from his damaged flesh and the reproach he received from all the nerves in his body.

'Squalo, you should sit down and let yours wounds rest,' Spanner said from his corner but his eyes remained fixed on the computer he was studying.

'Voii? And hide up here like a fucking coward?'

Spanner didn't answer but Dino looked up in concern.

'You aren't a coward Squalo,' he said reassuringly, 'you've played your part already. You defeated the Grid captain.'

Growling, Squalo reluctantly took a chair and sat back down. He looked at Dino curiously and a question popped into his mind.

'Bucking horse, you're a noble.'

Dino inclined his head, waiting for Squalo to elaborate.

'What's your purpose for supporting Vongola?' Squalo never really deeply thought about Dino's reasons behind his actions, he had always taken the blonde's heritage for granted. He wondered how the whip wielder had even gained the trust of Vongola.

Dino smiled as if he were eager to tell his own story.

'I guess we don't have much time for me to properly explain myself, so I'll just do so briefly,' the noble started.

Spanner paused from his studies and shifted his head to listen.

'I'm pretty sure my parents left me at the low district during one of their visits and never bothered to look for me again,' Dino laughed, 'Tsuna's father found me and then I was just raised up along with him the whole time. I'm a noble but I grew up in a world of peasants.'

Squalo nodded and asked no more questions. Tsuna's father must have been a honorable peasant, he didn't blame the sins of the other nobles on children who had nothing to do with the conflict. Instead, he had taken the initiative to raise the seed of the enemy in the hopes to destroy the hostility between the two races. Dino had been lucky, a noble child left in the low district was as dangerous as a peasant child abandoned in the high. Squalo didn't really see the point of all this hatred and he found it hard to care about the distinction between peasants and nobles. To him, anyone with strength no matter who they were should be respected. Anyone who had spent time and effort refining their skills was worthy of honor and acknowledgment.

Getting up to his feet again, Squalo made his way to the door.

'Voii, I don't care what you say but I'm going to fight,' the shark felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back as he was about to leave the room. Dino also stood up, looking determined.

'I agree with you Squalo, I'm going to join you,' Dino turned around back to Spanner, 'you'll do fine by yourself here right? I'll make sure no fighter steps past us.'

The mechanic gave a thumbs up from his spot and immersed himself back into his research. Squalo felt himself getting excited again, he was going to fight despite the heavy injuries he had suffered. Even though he was risking his life again to engage himself in combat, he didn't care. He might die and fail Xanxus, but his pride would not allow him to cower away from the ongoing clash and choose the easy path to survive. As a warrior, he will fight like one, and emerge from the embers of war alive after fighting.

He ignored the intense pain with every step he took and saw Dino pull out his whip, eyes blazing with the desire to assist his men. The two warriors made their way out of the control room, mind on nothing but the battle ahead. Squalo saw Taros' corpse leaning on the walls outside the control room and turned around. The staircase to the lower floors were ahead of them, Squalo drew his sword and lit it again with his blue rain flames.

However before the two men could take a few steps toward the stairs, a sudden explosion occurred right behind them. The force knocked both of them forward, sending them crashing to the floor in front. Squalo felt himself get blinded by an intense white light as a deafening crash reached his ears. He felt rubble fall onto him, hitting his already injured back painfully.

Opening his eyes frantically, he looked around to see Dino panting and staring in shock at what had happened. Most of the roof of the top floor had been blown off by something, leaving a splendid view of the sky and the city in front of Squalo. Along with the roof, half the floor had also been decimated including the area containing the control room which they had just left. Squalo turned around and jumped to see that the floor he was standing on a moment ago was no longer there.

Instead, there were cracked hinges hanging off the floor he was currently standing on, leading to nothing but air. The whole control room had been incinerated, destroyed. Squalo felt a gush of wind rush past him as he stared out to the horizon, the new exposed view of the city from his height. It would have been a stunning sight if he were not in such a dangerous situation.

'W-what is this…' Dino looked around in equal astonishment as he saw the view of the city from all around him. They were literally standing on a platform now, the top floor was no longer recognizable. When Squalo looked below him, he could see hover-vans and grid hunters, fighting and crowding around the building and fighting against Vongola forces.

'Spanner…he's…' Dino's eyes were wide as the truth started to sink in. If half the floor was blown off then the people on that floor must also be –

'Dead,' Squalo confirmed, feeling a slight tinge of regret as he remembered the blonde mechanic. Within that regret also blossomed a mountain of fear. If they had even dawdled for a minute back then, they would have been blasted apart along with half the floor. He was feeling irritated now, what the fuck had happened just then? What could have happened?

His question was answered as twenty or so battleships hovered around the building, guns charged up and ready to fire.

'Shit!' Squalo swore as he realized how exposed he was now that there were no longer walls around him. The battleships were suspended in air, on their level surrounding them. The only escape was the staircase on the other side of the floor which had not been victim of the previous blast.

Dread filled both men as they stared blankly at the hover-vehicles surrounding the top half of the main building. Whatever had happened beneath them, whatever their squad had done to stop the army men from reaching the top was so effective that Grid had to resort to _obliterating_ the top floor. Sending men up didn't work so why not just destroy it altogether? And that would effectively kill any Vongola men who happened to also be on the top floor as well as any Grid hunter. It was the ultimate move of desperation by Grid, the only indication to Squalo that Vongola were dominating this war.

Another strong wind gushed by and almost knocked him off his feet. Squalo wasn't afraid of heights but it was nevertheless an unnerving thought to know that if he lost his balance he would be falling to his death below.

'Squalo! Duck!' Dino grabbed him and pulled him to the floor as a laser beam shot by, missing his head barely.

Fuck, they were so vulnerable, surrounded by hover-ships like lambs surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves. Another laser beam shot by suddenly, burning a small hole through his right shoulder. Squalo hissed as the extra pain was added to the pain he was already feeling from his reopened wounds. Blood began to seep down his torso again.

Dino got to his feet and started to run toward the staircase, Squalo did the same. However before they could even travel halfway across the floor, more laser-fire blocked their path and they had to halt. Dino panted, looking desperately around at the multitude of merciless Grid vehicles.

Squalo saw with panic that the lot of them had began to simultaneously charge another attack. Blue orbs began to form at the tip of the gigantic guns attached to the vehicles, they were preparing another giant blast like the one which blew off the whole floor.

'Shit, bucking horse we need to get out of here!' Squalo snarled urgently. They tried to run toward the staircase again but like last time, more laser-fire prevented them from going any further. Squalo cursed Grid to the deepest abysms of hell.

_Those bastards were playing with them! _If they had wanted to kill them, they could have done so with the laser gunfire straight away. But instead, they laughed and forced them to watch and wait for their own deaths. Squalo hated how well Grid's plan was working, both he and Dino were short range attackers. Nothing they did would even reach the nearest battleship. His mind raced desperately as he watched the blue orbs grow bigger and bigger with energy.

It was only a matter of seconds before the attack would be released. They were helplessly trapped, unable to prevent their own deaths from arriving.

'Ha…' Dino murmured shakily, 'I guess this is the end…'

Squalo didn't answer him but waited, the worst was coming any moment now…

Suddenly a glorious white dragon appeared out of nowhere and flew in front of them, destroying at least five completely charged ships. It left a trail of golden-white flames as it flew in the air, taking down and burning Grid's hover-vehicles. Squalo blinked and watched the dragon blankly. Was he hallucinating?

A blue blast from another direction shot through a string of battleships on the other side. Squalo almost yelled in shock as the vehicles stopped charging and flew back intending to retreat for the time being. Many more shots like the previous were fired from an unknown source, heavily damaging the ships.

He looked around frantically, trying to find his saviors. At last, he saw Byakuran hovering in the air, breaking Grid's hover-ships like they were made of nothing. His white wings danced on his back as he flew effortlessly around the building. On the other side, Squalo gasped as Colonello, airborne from his hawk, carried his gigantic machine gun and fired a multitude of dangerous blue beams which shot through the metal of the hover-ships like tofu.

He heard Dino whoop out with joy as he saw the other Vongola elites. Squalo couldn't even stop the elation from rising in his own body. _Fuck they were saved!_

Byakuran and the infant landed softly on the floor in front of them.

'Colonello! Byakuran!' Dino gasped in awe, staring with evident relief at his comrades.

'You brats are doing well without us!' Colonello greeted, grinning at the expression of disbelief on Squalo's face.

'You guys! What about the switch?'

'The barriers are gone now~,' Byakuran answered looking at Squalo bemusedly, 'you can thank Xanxus for that.'

_Xanxus_. The name stirred something within Squalo and suddenly he remembered.

'Voii! You're all done at the palace?' He yelled, unable to contain his excitement. Xanxus was here, at the main building!

'Calm yourself brat!' Colonello told him, 'but yeah, we've won. You can leave those flying vehicles to us.'

With that, he took his hawk and leapt into flight again, charging up his machine gun. Byakuran left too, jumping off the building and gliding through the sky with ease.

Squalo gave a small nod to Dino before running off, down the stairs. The war was almost over and Xanxus was fighting here in the building. Squalo wanted to find him and fight alongside him, like he had always dreamed of doing. It was his duty to support the raven, he was going to slice his way down all the floors to do so.

The injuries on his body forgotten, Squalo leapt down the stairs to the lower floor, glancing frantically around him. His sword was still lit up from before, he still had energy left. Ignoring the protests from his body, he continued to run across the hallways, eager to descend to the lower floors where all the action was going on. He didn't know why he was so eager to enter battle when in his condition he would be nothing but a burden.

He could feel his own blood drenching his clothes but he ran on anyways, past the empty floors where an occasional corpse lay. Friend or foe, he couldn't tell. When he was around halfway down, he ran into Gokudera who was lying injured on the floor, breathing heavily. A part of Squalo stopped him in his tracks, despite his hurry to find Xanxus.

Squalo didn't know what made him do it, but he knelt down and helped the boy into a sitting position, leaning him on the wall. Not because he cared about the boy, but because he felt that Gokudera deserved be helped after all his efforts for Vongola. Now that the switch was destroyed, Vongola on the verge of victory, this boy deserved to face the reward of a better future.

'Voii, bomb brat, you still breathing?'

Gokudera stirred slightly and opened his eyes. When he saw Squalo, his posture slumped into relief and nodded.

'How unlike you, to help me,' he commented softly.

'Don't think you're anymore than trash to me,' Squalo snarled back at the boy. They had never really gotten along all these months at the headquarters, 'but you're a friend of the katana brat so I'm doing him a favour.'

With that, Squalo left Gokudera slumped on the wall and resumed his mission to find Xanxus. As he reached the lower floors, he saw more people fighting now, mostly Vongola men. There were more frequent Grid corpses on the floors and more injured but breathing Vongola fighters, helping each other. Many scenes met his sight as he traveled, lower and lower, down the twenty floors of the main building.

He saw Hibari holding his own at one stage, a pile of army men lying dead around him. He looked tired too, bruises on his face and various injuries covering his body. Despite all that, he fought on. Yamamoto was also doing well by himself, unaware of his friend's situation on one of the upper floors. The katana-wielding boy cut down his last two opponents before releasing breath and relaxing.

Squalo noticed that no more Grid fighters emerged from the doors anymore which meant that he could effectively charge through. When he reached the second floor, there were still people fighting and clashing weapons.

A few army men jumped forward to attack him but Squalo slashed his sword through their bodies without hesitation. Many more people tried to assault him on his way, taking advantage of his already injured state. Squalo didn't mind them, his focus was all on getting to the entrance hall where Xanxus was probably fighting. Enemies from the Grid army tried to sink their weapons into his body, sometimes they succeeded but most of the time Squalo managed to kill them before they could do so.

As he ran on, more injuries were added to his body. Blood was now everywhere, flowing down his legs, his torso, his neck, his arms. There were cuts added to his skin, whether it was from an army man who succeeded in stabbing him, or a defeated Grid hunter lying on the floor who tried to trip him. Sometimes he felt that there were small weapons imbedded in his body and he didn't even notice. He felt as if pain was natural now, he was able to ignore it completely. It didn't hinder his determination to find Xanxus, it did nothing to detract his will from the task at hand.

When he reached the first floor, his mind started to grow dizzy from the loss of blood. The bandages that Spanner had fixed on him were virtually non-existent now, slashed apart by his enemies. The number of enemy fighters was reducing rapidly, and yet there was still enough to prevent him from reaching the entrance hall. Angry and impatient, he slashed his sword around, killing nobles left, right and centre. He didn't even bother dodging the hits they bestowed on him, the pain in his body was so intense that just a little more didn't matter anymore.

He struggled and went on, feeling as if the floor beneath him was smoldering. His body was at its breaking point, he had been reckless to charge into the fray like this without preparation. How could he be of use to Xanxus now? As he realized his mistake, a surviving grid hunter managed to puncture his ribs with a spear.

Squalo yelled out in frustration and sliced his attacker's head off cleanly. He felt as if his legs would give out at any moment, it was a miracle they still held on. Even if they had won the war, he doubt he could survive now. If he had waited patiently on the top floor, he would have certainly been able to make it out alive. If he had waited, he could definitely enjoy the future after this conflict was over, but he didn't wait. Instead, his pride did not allow him to. His pride drove him to fight and challenge himself further, his pride had blindly refused to accept reality. Squalo learnt now, being proud was a bitch sometimes.

Now, because had uncontrollably tested his limits, he was going to die. And if he was going to die, he wanted to see Xanxus one last time before he did, he wanted a glance at those hard red eyes one more time. He cut down the last of the Grid hunters on his floor, it was almost over now, Grid have lost, they had no more fighters left. This war was a victory for Vongola in every way.

Panting and pushing himself forward, Squalo leapt down the stairs and into the entrance hall. His eyes were heavy lidded with fatigue but he managed to make out a few more skirmishes happening in sight. There was blood, corpses everywhere, bodies in his way. The Grid forces here were the last of them, Squalo swung his sword and killed a few more but his eyes were searching the room, trying to find a certain dark haired man.

At last, he spotted Xanxus in combat with a few more Grid hunters. The hall was almost empty save for the dead, the Vongola fighters and a small amount of leftover Grid fighters. Xanxus had his back towards him, and blasted his opponents dead with a single fireball from his hand.

Squalo forced his legs to move forward, to reach the one he had missed so dearly in the past few hours. His body was going to break and collapse at any second, he had to reach the other man.

'Xanxus!' Squalo yelled with his final ounce of energy, staring desperately at the silky black hair and the feathers.

Xanxus jolted slightly when he heard Squalo's voice. Turning around quickly, his red eyes met those silver ones of Squalo. And then he stared at the shark, eyes wide.

When Squalo caught sight of Xanxus' fiery crimson orbs, something inside of him felt complete. His body chose that moment to snap and his legs refused to hold him up any longer. He fell onto the floor on his chest gasping, panting but satisfied. Reality decided to attack at that moment. His injuries were hurting now, more than anything else in his body, his head felt dizzy and his mind was blank. His consciousness was slowly slipping away and darkness was washing over his vision.

Still, he felt no regrets now. He had seen Xanxus, gazed into those beautiful red eyes like he wanted to do. But why was his mental state refusing to give up? He should have died ages ago, but the irritating part of him refused to let life go.

He could feel what seemed like the last drops of his blood escape his body, onto the stone cold floor. He wanted to give up now, everything was telling him to give up now, but he kept on fighting. He wanted to live, he couldn't lie to himself but he wanted to experience the freedom that was denied to him all this time.

He had grown up within pandemonium and now he wanted his share of that future which looked so bright and promising.

He felt stupid for doing so. Even when his mind was telling him to accept death, he refused. Just like how his pride refused to have him cowering and hiding from the conflict, he was now refusing to accept death.

Suddenly, he felt himself get turned over by strong hands. Xanxus was kneeling beside him, looking at him. Squalo stared at the other man, he could see concern, compassion, a hint of worry, a mixture of affection and relief.

Squalo slowly brought one of his hands up to touch the other's face. It was warm as usual, containing the heat from the fire which would burn for all eternity within the other man. He gazed again into those eyes, the eyes which held all the answers, the eyes which could send him chasing the ends of hell if they wished him to.

'Xanxus…' Squalo coughed, grinning in spite of himself. Xanxus cradled the shark's face with a large warm hand and softly pinched the other's cheek.

'I…killed…him…'

And then he lost consciousness.

~x.x.x.x~

Squalo woke again but this time he was lying in a soft white bed. He grumbled and opened his eyes slowly, taking in the scene in front of him. He was in a small room, he recognized it as one of Grid's healing rooms. There was a closed door at the other end of the room and someone was sitting on the chair beside his bed.

Turning around in his bed, he winced as he realized that the wounds were still present on his torso. But when his eye caught sight of Xanxus next to him, watching him intently, he jumped up into a sitting position.

'Voii! You're…' Squalo paused, trying to beat down the dizziness in his head. His body screamed at him silently for his erratic movements. Slowly, he moved his hand forward to feel the other man's face, making sure that it was real and not an illusion. When his fingers touched solid flesh, a spark of electricity shot throughout his body.

'Fuck! You're real!' Squalo yelled, unable to help himself. Ignoring the protests from every cell in his body, he threw himself onto Xanxus, eager to feel him, touch him, _anything_. Xanxus stood up and stopped him in mid-air, forcing him down onto the bed again.

'Scum, take a fucking rest,' he growled harshly but resumed his seat on the edge of Squalo's bed this time. Squalo was about to load the raven with insults before a gentle hand tilted his chin and warm lips met his own. His annoyance with Xanxus vanishing completely, Squalo wrapped both his arms around the raven's neck and kissed back furiously. At the same time, the truth was beginning to sink in. _He had survived, fuck!_

He didn't know how long he had lost consciousness but it couldn't have been that long for his wounds weren't even treated properly. But who cares about that now, he had survived damnit! And Xanxus was with him, what more could he have asked for?

He was still lip-locked with the raven, tongue thrashing in the other's mouth. He was beside himself with passion, mouth grinding horribly against the other's lips. He didn't even bother holding back, and shuddered with pleasure as Xanxus brought his hand up and stroked the back of his neck in rhythmic motions. When both men were out of breath, Squalo withdrew panting and gazing with desire at Xanxus.

Then, he jumped forward again but this time he did not kiss the other man. Instead, he buried his face into Xanxus' chest and encircled his arms around the raven's waist. It was the only way he could express all the emotions that have been burning inside him, his relief and joy that both of them have made it out alive. Xanxus looked slightly taken back at Squalo hugging him, but his own emotions gave way as he twined his fingers into Squalo's spiky silver hair and returned the hug.

'Idiot,' he whispered mockingly into the shark's ear.

'Shut up,' Squalo hissed back, tightening his grip around the other man. They stayed like that for minutes before Squalo decided to let go. There were a million things he wanted to say to Xanxus, but he couldn't find the right words to express his thoughts.

Xanxus was looking at him in an amused way, eyes gleaming. Their faces were inches apart, Squalo paused before remembering Taros' last words before his death.

…_I guess you must have had your own reasons to be this strong…_

'Voii, what's your reason to be strong?' Squalo asked curiously. The question sounded pretty lame coming from his mouth, but he was interested.

Xanxus' expression froze when he heard the question, he looked away and retreated back into his seat next to the bed. He didn't answer, but Squalo noticed that his attitude became colder. The raven was keeping his distance as if Squalo had gotten too close to him.

'Answer my question damnit!' Squalo pestered on, fuck he was going to force an answer out of the man if he had to.

'I don't have a reason,' Xanxus shot him a glare which sent chills down his spine. It was a hard, cold glare and Squalo was astonished because Xanxus had never looked at him that way before. It was a look which tried to shun him aside and repel him. Xanxus' voice was emotionless, devoid of the warmth he showed a moment ago.

'That's bullshit,' Squalo muttered, glaring back at Xanxus. He was confident that Xanxus had a reason, and the behaviour he was witnessing now was confirmation of that. If he wasn't mistaken, the raven looked insecure about something. Whatever it was, Squalo was going to get it out of the other man.

Xanxus scowled and gave a deadly glance at the swordsman but Squalo wasn't intimidated.

'You don't trust me?' Squalo taunted mockingly, 'or are you too chicken to reveal it?'

Xanxus looked like he was about to hit Squalo, but stopped himself forcefully. He was glaring at the floor, refusing to look up. Squalo, impatient as ever, pinched Xanxus' cheek and pulled his face up by the small section of skin between his fingers. The raven snarled at the small pain from having his face dragged up but he didn't do anything to stop Squalo.

The swordsman looked directly into Xanxus' ruby eyes, this time he was the one trying to decipher the history behind the raven.

'Tell me.' It was a challenge, Squalo somehow felt the authority and the right to know about Xanxus, he felt the right to be given a chance to understand the other.

Xanxus stared at him for a long while before sighing and giving in.

'I'm not a peasant…' he said quietly, watching Squalo's reaction.

'Is that it?' Squalo asked blankly, waiting for Xanxus to elaborate. Xanxus hissed in annoyance when he realized that Squalo was expecting him to explain further.

'Are you dumb trash?' Xanxus growled, 'I'm not a fucking peasant.'

'Huh, so you're a noble?' Squalo joked, grinning.

Xanxus suddenly stood up and grabbed the front of Squalo's shirt, rage dancing in his eyes. He brought their faces close to each other, scowling.

'Don't test me, fucker,' he declared, voice vibrating slightly with anger. Squalo remained composed to his own surprise, grin still plastered on his face. Gently, he removed Xanxus' rough hand from the front of his shirt, trying to calm the other man down.

'Voii, I wasn't trying to test you,' he said smoothly, giving Xanxus' cheek another hard pinch. He waited until the raven had let go of him and was back in his seat before continuing.

'You aren't a peasant. And you're not a noble either. So what are you?'

Xanxus' eyes blazed again when Squalo asked that question. When the raven saw that Squalo was dead serious about hearing an answer, he reluctantly replied.

'I don't know.'

Squalo was grinning again, white teeth glinting maliciously.

'That's cool, because I never really saw you as a peasant you know,' Squalo exclaimed, trying to cheer Xanxus up, 'I was just captivated by your strength, that's all. Remember what I said to you when we first met? You have power, I respect that power, I don't even care who or what you are.'

When Xanxus looked at him in disbelief, Squalo felt a hiss of anger and annoyance.

'Voiii! I get it now!' He shouted, snarling at Xanxus, 'you thought I was going to fucking leave you? Didn't you?'

It was his turn to be angry. Impatiently, he used both hands and grabbed Xanxus' shirt before pulling him close and looking directly into his eyes.

'Listen to this…fucker,' Squalo declared, silver eyes shining with determination, 'if you think I'm going to leave you because of this shitty reason, you are sadly mistaken. I've already sworn to fight for you, and I plan to keep my promise which means you won't be able to get rid of me this easily. You can beat me, shoot me, send me to hell and I'll still come running back to you. I'll still be beside you, no matter how much you want to avoid me. Got it?'

Xanxus looked astonished at Squalo's sudden proclamation of loyalty. Squalo didn't wait for him to recover.

'Stop looking so damn shocked!' Squalo almost slapped the raven but held himself back, 'and never fucking doubt my resolve again.'

Squalo removed his grip on Xanxus' clothes and sat back onto his bed, face flushed. Glad that he had gotten a point across, the swordsman sat folding his arms and looking satisfied. Xanxus made a sudden movement toward him and Squalo was too slow to react. The raven leaned forward and for a second, Squalo thought Xanxus was going to beat him up but then he was genuinely surprised when instead of a punch, came a kiss on his cheek.

Squalo felt his face grow hot at the playful gesture, but recovered himself quickly. He sat there gazing awkwardly into Xanxus' eyes. They were unreadable as usual, the raven showed no emotion despite the kiss he placed on Squalo a second ago.

'Voii, I know…' Squalo said softly, 'you want to ascertain your identity right?'

Xanxus didn't lose his temper this time, instead he gave a small nod.

'Then let's go!' he continued, excitement flaring, 'the barriers around this city are gone now, you can find out more about yourself when we go visiting other places. That way, I can continue searching for strong opponents too.'

Xanxus raised his eyebrows at the suggestion but then he did something unusual.

He smiled. A true smile as he locked eyes with Squalo and nodded. The expression made the hairs on the back of Squalo's neck stand up. It froze him as he gazed at the raven's face, Xanxus had never once smiled, or at least Squalo had never seen him do so. Consequently, the shark couldn't help but stare in wonder at the rare sight.

To his disappointment, the smile disappeared as quickly as it came, and Xanxus' face was back into its usual passive expression. Squalo was on the verge of asking Xanxus to smile again, but then thought of a different solution. He was going to earn that smile, he was going to make Xanxus smile again because no one else had managed to.

'Scum, you need to heal your wounds first.'

And then Xanxus stood up, waiting for Squalo. The swordsman grunting, painfully made his way out of bed.

'Your sword trash…' Xanxus threw him the object which hit Squalo hard on the head, 'take good care of it.'

Squalo scowled but grabbed his sword and massaged his head painfully. He was surprised at how much Xanxus gave his sword attention, like he and the object have had some kind of history before. Brushing away his thoughts, he limped around to the infirmary. This was Grid's main building, he was familiar with the place so he had no problem locating one of the laser therapy rooms. After his wounds were healed to an extent, he made his way down to the entrance hall with Xanxus.

On their way down, a red haired man named Shoichi ran into them.

'X-Xanxus!' He called, motioning for them to wait.

'What do you want?' Xanxus growled.

'I'm just letting you know…that Tsuna and Reborn expect everyone from the Vongola to remain behind and help out with the organization of this city.'

The boy spoke nervously, evidently intimidated by Xanxus' murderous aura.

Xanxus didn't reply to the comment, instead he walked away and motioned for Squalo to follow him. And then they left the main building, to the fresh air outside. When they were alone and out of anyone's earshot, Squalo's anger burst forth.

'VVOIII! Did you get that? That pissy brat wants us to stay in this shithole-'

'Calm down scum, we're not going to.'

Squalo was slightly relieved to hear Xanxus say this and then reminded himself that there was no way someone like Xanxus would submit to Tsuna.

'Hah, that's more like it boss…'

Xanxus continued to walk with Squalo following closely behind.

'Where are we going?' The swordsman asked.

'Hovercar.'

Squalo nodded and obediently followed his boss. They were strolling down the streets of the high district now, the nobles seemed to have realized the result of the war and were staying locked in their homes. There was barely anyone, Squalo had never seen the place so empty. Usually it was bursting with people, slaves and carriages. Now not even the shops were open.

They were walking for a good while before they met Dino and Yamamoto in their path.

'Squalo, Xanxus,' Dino greeted, Yamamoto by his side. Xanxus grunted and stood aside, allowing Squalo to talk.

Squalo understood the raven's gesture, he was being permitted to give his 'goodbyes' to anyone before they left.

'Squalo! I'm glad you survived,' Yamamoto said beaming. The shark noticed that the boy had a few bandages on his face, other than that the laser had healed everything.

'Of course I'd survive you shitty katana brat.'

'So what are your plans now?' Dino asked.

'Voii, I'm getting the hell outta this city of course,' Squalo glared at them as if expecting them to stop him. Instead, they didn't seem surprised at all.

'So you're planning to run away,' Dino commented bemusedly.

'If that's how you'd put it, then yeah I'm running away. What are you two going to do after this?'

Yamamoto laughed when he heard this and answered.

'Tsuna's planning to integrate the noble and peasant societies,' the young swordsman explained, 'it'll be hard but I'm sure he can do it, he can do anything he sets his mind to. I'm going to help him.'

'So you're just going to rot here forever?'

'Not really, Tsuna's the new Axel now, he'll be visiting other cities for political purposes. Gokudera and I will be with him then, we'll be going to new places too.'

'And me too,' Dino added, 'don't forget that I'm helping, and Hibari. We owe Tsuna everything, I owe Tsuna.'

Squalo nodded, content at their objectives. He didn't know why but now when he was about to leave them, he considered them friends, after all they went through at the Vongola headquarters. Yamamoto had always respected him, and Dino too.

'How many survived the war?' Squalo questioned.

'More than half of us,' Dino answered, 'we've lost a lot and we're all recovering, but we've won. It's all over now.'

Squalo agreed, it was all over. All he had now was a promising future waiting for him.

'Squalo, you'll be back right?' Yamamoto asked.

'Voii, of course, this city is a shithole, but it's still my home. I'll come back occasionally for a visit.'

'Then I hope you have fun, wherever you're going,' Yamamoto said, 'next time we meet, I'll be stronger, I'll be able to beat you!'

'Hah,' Squalo exclaimed, rising up to the challenge, 'then you'd better not lose a single fight from now on, katana-brat!'

Yamamoto nodded and then walked slowly over to Xanxus. The raven did not give a 'what the fuck do you want' to the black haired boy but instead there was a gleam of acknowledgment in his ruby eyes. Yamamoto smiled, his gaze was evidently that of reverence and admiration.

'Take care, Xanxus,' Yamamoto bowed his head slightly.

Xanxus voiced a harsh 'tch' before replying a low – 'you too trash.'

Squalo gazed curiously as Yamamoto walked back to him.

'Squalo, you'd better not lose either!'

They were about to exchange fists before someone landed on the ground next to them. Squalo looked sideways to find Byakuran, his wings shining in the sun, his eyes glancing over at the small gathering.

'Tsunayoshi has told me to find you…Xanxus,' Byakuran stated inattentively, 'he wants me to bring you back.'

Xanxus looked calm at this statement but Squalo was livid.

'Voii, you're not laying a finger on him!' He yelled, stepping in between the two men. At that moment, a deafening whoosh brushed past his ears and a hover-van landed nearby. Bel emerged from the van, followed by Fran. Levi was on the wheel.

'Boss! Squalo! Get on the van,' Bel shouted in an amused way, grinning. When Xanxus saw his men, he walked calmly over to the vehicle.

'Scum, where did you get this?'

'Ushishishi, we stole it,' Bel smiled cheekily. Xanxus looked impressed. They all glanced over at Squalo who refused to move from his spot.

'Voii, you wanna try and stop us?' Squalo challenged the white haired man, hand drifting to his sword. Byakuran only laughed when he saw that Squalo was intent on fighting him.

'I don't feel like chasing you kids around~' the Vongola elite asserted, 'it's a boring job.'

'So you're going to let us go?'

'Hmm, if you want me to.'

Squalo felt grateful for this, he didn't want to injure himself fighting someone on Byakuran's level. The man had saved his life back on the top floor, if Byakuran hadn't intervened Squalo would have been blasted into smithereens by the battleships.

'Are you planning on leaving this city too?' Squalo asked curiously.

'Maybe~' Byakuran looked at him bemusedly, 'you'd better hurry up and leave before my killing instinct takes over and I change my mind.'

'Don't think I'll thank you for this, white haired bastard,' Squalo snarled before turning around and running toward the van. Dino and Yamamoto waved to him as he got on and the vehicle took off.

Squalo couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief as he looked at his teammates scattered around the van. He had to admire their perfect timing though. And the sight of an alive Fran reassured him more than ever.

'Voii Fran, good to see you again,' he couldn't help commenting, admiring the evident changes that have occurred in the illusionist. The boy he knew from before was no longer present, instead there was another fighter standing in front of him.

'Commander Squalo,' Fran greeted. Squalo was somewhat astonished to be addressed as such when he was so used to hearing 'master'. Nevertheless, he didn't complain.

'We're coming with you, Ushishishi,' Bel grinned, settling himself on one of the cozy seats.

'Coming with us where?' Squalo yelled.

'To other cities dumbass commander,' Bel smiled insolently, 'we heard everything that went on between you and boss.'

Squalo stood gaping at the 'prince' and then looked over to Xanxus to see what he thought about this. The raven did look slightly unnerved by Bel's information, but if he was bothered by it he kept it well hidden.

'Personally,' Bel continued, 'I think the fact that boss isn't like us isn't surprising at all.'

'I agree,' Fran commented, 'he's too scary, and Levi doesn't care either.'

Squalo quickly regained himself in front of his team.

'VOII, if you lot are planning to come then you'd better be fucking useful,' he snarled at them and was disappointed when none were intimidated by his threat.

Bel leaned back on his seat and chucked a plastic ball over to Xanxus. The raven caught it easily and scrutinized it curiously.

'Boss, whilst idiotic commander was still asleep, Levi, froggy and I made a visit to the Axel's palace,' Bel announced, 'and we managed to find that thing.'

Xanxus clicked open the ball and a hologram of a map appeared in front of him.

'It's a world map,' Bel explained.

Squalo's heart skipped a beat as he glanced at the hologram. It indeed looked like a map of the world, there were so many different cities! He couldn't contain his excitement; there were so many possibilities, so many places that he could go to. Who knows what kind of opponents he will find? Who knows how strong they'll be?

After a while, he took his eyes off the map and looked back at the Varia. Bel was twirling one of his knives in a bored fashion, Fran had his head to the window of the van, trying to look for something below.

'Can Mr. Levi stop the van?' Fran asked after seeing something near the Western tower.

Levi nodded from the wheel and pulled the van over abruptly. Fran opened the door and jumped out. Curious, Squalo got up watched the boy from the door.

Mukuro and his gang were standing nearby, chatting. They were pretty beaten up but looked lively. Fran was running towards them.

'Master.'

Squalo's eyebrows raised as he heard Fran addressing someone else as 'master'. It was a strange feeling, but he wasn't upset by it. Mukuro turned around slowly when he heard Fran. His trident hung loosely in his hand and he walked a bit toward the young illusionist, a curious smile on his face.

'Little one,' Mukuro inclined his head slightly as he watched Fran stop a few steps in front of him.

'How pleasant to see that you've survived through that mess,' Mukuro commented calmly, smiling slightly at the boy.

'Master,' Fran said again, this time stronger. Mukuro waited, looking at Fran attentively.

'Thank you for everything,' Fran bent down and gave a full bow. Squalo gasped softly as he watched the scene. Fran was thanking someone, not to mention bowing down too. It was one of the rare times he had seen the boy show gratitude towards anyone.

'Kufufufu, no need to thank me little one,' Mukuro laughed but looked touched nonetheless, 'you have potential, use it as you please, but use it well.'

Fran nodded before turning and running back to the van. Squalo couldn't help grinning as the hover-van took off once more into the skies. Now they were really leaving this city.

'Voii, boss, what's our next destination?'

Xanxus looked up calmly and observed the map again before making his decision – 'Glatina.'

Glatina, the closest city to Tephire. It was the most logical choice. Levi held a thumb up from the wheel and Xanxus threw the map at him. The man caught the map and inserted the ball into a slot near the wheel. Now, the map was not only displaying but there was also a tiny dot which indicated where they were. Levi easily tapped their next destination and a small route appeared on the map.

Squalo let out a deep breath before taking a seat next to Xanxus. Watching the plains of the lower district rush by as the hover-van sped past, Squalo couldn't find words to describe how he was feeling. He was anticipating so much, what if it was all a lie? What if something went wrong?

A battered metal fence in the distance came into sight and Squalo twitched. The fence was an indication of what was Tephire city, and what was beyond.

As the hover-van drove nearer and nearer, Squalo felt the pace of his heart speed up. When they were about to drive past it, he closed his eyes in spite of himself. For a moment he thought that the barriers would destroy them but then it never came. There was no laser to ruin everything for them, they easily flew past the old rusty fence as if the barrier had never existed.

Now that his ridiculous fear was over, excitement burned again. The thought of new opponents, new technology, new places, overwhelmed him.

'Voii, Xanxus,' Squalo muttered, 'I'm fucking worried.'

And he truly meant it. They were entering foreign grounds, who knows what could happen next? As confined as he felt in Tephire city, at least it was a reassuring place. Even though Grid had practically corrupted the city, Squalo couldn't help feeling empty as he left it. There were so many experiences and memories he gained there, now he needed to take all those with him.

Whatever happened next, he would have to accept it. But what if he couldn't accept it? What if it was too overwhelming? When something screwed up for him in Tephire, he would always have something else to hold onto no matter how bad it was. If something bad happened in another city, what could he look to?

'Aren't you worried Xanxus?'

The raven grunted and shook his head, much to Squalo's surprise.

'Don't bullshit me, you're probably worried too,' Squalo snapped. What kind of person wouldn't be worried at a time like this? Squalo wanted to shake some sense into the raven, let him know that sometimes it was better to admit what he was feeling instead of plainly denying it.

There were so many uncertainties they needed to face after all, they were all human. Humans experience emotions, even the tough ones like Xanxus had to be worried some time. But Xanxus kept refusing to admit it.

'Huh, I don't believe you,' Squalo snapped in annoyance. But Xanxus also looked impatient.

'Why would I be worried scum?' Xanxus growled and gazed into his eyes, 'I have you.' ***

**~ The end ~**

* * *

><p>* - Resident evil<br>** - Lord of the Rings link  
>*** - Harry Potter link<p>

**Author's final note**

You have now finished 'Within Pandemonium', so how was it? Did you like it? Did you hate it? I'd greatly appreciate any form of feedback.

This note will be a bit longer than my previous ones, mainly because I just felt like going through a few things. If you're interest in what I have to say, by all means read on.

I'll begin with my inspirations -  
><strong>IDespiseTragedy<strong> : by far my biggest inspiration of all, her XS fic 'Eromenos' is what stimulated me to start this fic. She writes the most skillful AUs I've ever seen in a fanfiction. [_If you are reading this IDT although I highly doubt it, I truly, genuinely, honestly tried to avoid characterizing Xanxus and Squalo the same way that you did, it was pretty hard because the way you wrote them is practically exactly what I had in mind. Your fics are beautiful._]  
><strong>One Piece<strong> : the whole concept of nobles and peasants was borrowed from OP, as is the concept of the 'auction house'. This is by far my favorite manga.

And now my biggest flaws (in my opinion) -  
><strong>Xanxus is OOC<strong> : Yep, he is ridiculously out of character. He's just too sappy and caring, no matter how you look at it. If you are a Xanxus fan, I am so sorry, I truly am. He must be a pathetic rendition of your favorite mafia boss. You can hate me for everything else, but I ask you to forgive me for this.  
>The thing is, I knew he was OOC but I didn't bother writing him like canon!Xanxus. It was unprofessional of me to take the easy way out and write a sappy!Xanxus which would make this fic 100x easier to write than a canon!Xanxus.<br>**My childish language** : I do not understand how some authors can string words together so beautifully. I end up repeating the same boring phrase 50 times every chapter. My language is plain and unsophisticated.

My general view when writing this fic -  -  
>- No sex in an XS fic! What an unconventional approach on this pairing! I hate stories where it's all about Squalo being a pathetic fuck-toy for Xanxus. I also hate how people automatically bestow feminine traits onto him, just because he has fucking long hair and looks like a chick. Long hair == a female personality. I don't like how those fics ignore the basic characteristics which make up a character.  
>- I detest the notion of Xanxus &amp; Squalo falling for anyone based on <em>appearances<em> only. When I interpreted these characters, they are both strong to the point where love will not appear just because Squalo happens to be a ridiculously hot looking male, and Xanxus fell in love with his beauty etc. etc. No, love at first sight does not work with a pairing like XS, both characters would not be moved by appearances alone, it has to be a unique aspect of each character that catches the other's attention  
>- Plot before romance. <p>

**And finally, some other things you may like to know - **

- I have so much information on Xanxus' past, in which only like 1% could be included in this fic. I don't want all that planning to go to waste, so **if you are interested, I'm considering writing a oneshot concerning Xanxus' past**. There's just too much about him that I haven't revealed at all. If I ever decide to write it, it will be released as a separate story.  
>- I also have another AU fic planned, but you won't be seeing this one for a while.<p>

**So all in all...**  
>Thank you so much for reading this fic!<br>Whether you liked it or hated it does not matter to me!  
>As long as you've given this fic a chance, and given it a good read...<br>I'm happy.

`Slamshady 


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